Crime

Police throughout Santa Clara County are ready to crack down on drunken and drugged drivers this Halloween evening, as part of law enforcement’s annual “Avoid the 13” holiday DUI crackdown, according to a press release from the Sheriff’s Office.“The scariest part of Halloween is not the spooky costumes and scary pranks, it’s the impaired drivers,” Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith said. “All too often, partygoers don’t plan ahead and choose to drive impaired, but a costume can’t disguise drunk driving.” Sheriff’s deputies, local police and California Highway Patrol will participate in the Thursday night DUI crackdown, deploying extra patrols in addition to regular shifts, the press release says. The sheriff’s office will deploy extra deputies to perform DUI “saturation patrols” to identify anyone driving impaired. Halloween is one of the deadliest holidays of the year on our roadways, according to police. The National Highway Traffic Administration has reported that from 2007-2011, 52 percent of all fatalities occurring on Halloween night nationwide involved an impaired driver. Men between 21 and 34 comprised almost half of all drunk drivers who were killed in motor vehicle accidents nationwide during the 2011 Halloween holiday. It is also the deadliest night of the year for child pedestrians. “If you celebrate with alcohol, you don’t belong behind the wheel,” Smith added. “A sober and safe ride after the party is the best treat you can give yourself and everyone else on the road this Halloween.”The Santa Clara County DUI Task Force recommends the following tips to keep safe this Halloween: -Plan a way to get home safely before the festivities begin. -Designate a sober driver.-If you are impaired, take a taxi, call a sober friend or family member, or use public transportation. -Walking impaired can be just as dangerous as drunk driving, according to police. Designate a sober friend to walk you home. -If you see a drunk driver on the road, call 911.-If you know someone who is about to drive while impaired, take their keys and help them make safe arrangements to their destination. Funding for this Avoid the 13 operation is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the NHTSA, according to the press release. 

Police warn of phone scam Gilroy Police are warning residents about a phone scam in the city from an individual who claims to be an officer with the department. On Jan. 19, the Gilroy Police Department received a report from a resident who had been contacted...

Pants around ankles and being high in public

Attorneys involved in the case of the man accused of murdering Morgan Hill teen Sierra LaMar continued to verbally spar over the sluggish evidence disclosure process at a hearing Friday, but the suspect again declined to enter a plea.Antolin Garcia Torres, 22 of Morgan Hill, appeared at the hearing at the Hall of Justice in San Jose. He was handcuffed and wearing County Jail inmate scrubs - a contrast to recent previous hearings where he wore a brown suit and tie. Garcia Torres is accused of kidnapping and murdering Sierra, who disappeared at the age 15 from her mother’s north Morgan Hill home March 16, 2012. Her remains have not been found, and investigators have not revealed any evidence indicating her whereabouts since finding her cell phone and a bag containing some of her clothes in the early days of the investigation. Previous recent hearings have centered around the unfinished process requiring investigators to share case files and evidence with the defendant. Authorities have said there are more than 10,000 pages’ worth of evidence in the kidnapping and murder case. Garcia Torres’ attorney Friday told Superior Court Judge Sharon Chatman that a spreadsheet listing items of evidence, provided by prosecutors and requested at Garcia Torres’ last hearing in October, was “inadequate.” The list only indicated evidence provided by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office so far, while Garcia Torres’ attorney Al Lopez was under the impression the spreadsheet would include a list of items that are “going to come our way.” Santa Clara County Deputy DA David Boyd was consequently perturbed that the defense waited until Thursday’s hearing to let him know their view on the completeness of the list of evidence. “It’s frustrating to hear these things for the first time,” said Boyd, who added that he did not indicate he would provide a more complete spreadsheet at the last hearing, as Lopez suggested. Chatman asked the prosecutor and defense attorneys to “informally” communicate their requests and complaints about the discovery or evidence sharing process to each other before court proceedings in order to speed up the process. The judge granted Garcia Torres’ request to schedule the next hearing for Jan. 9, 2014, for a status update. Boyd, noting it has been 17 months since Garcia Torres’ first court appearance following his arrest in May 2012, wanted the defendant to indicate at the next hearing when Garcia Torres will be ready for a “probable cause hearing.” Chatman asked Owens and Lopez to make such an indication at the Jan. 9 hearing. A small group of volunteers who continue to search for Sierra or her whereabouts attended Friday’s hearing. “We just wish they could speed it up more,” said volunteer Mike Nino of San Jose. “All we can do is be patient.” Nino and other volunteers meet every Saturday morning at the former site of Central High School to conduct searches. “As soon as we get more information we can find new areas to go (search),” Nino said. Sierra disappeared as she was walking to her school bus stop near the intersection of Palm and Dougherty avenues, according to authorities. She was a sophomore at Sobrato High School at the time of her disappearance. Garcia Torres is also charged with a series of unrelated attempted carjacking and assaults in 2009, which occurred in the parking lots of two Safeway grocery stores in Morgan Hill.For more information on the search for Sierra, go to findsierralamar.com.

Gary Rosales, 41, of Walnut Creek, 8 p.m. Saturday, at the

Rita Campos could spend up to a year in jail for causing the

Law enforcement authorities are warning the public about the dangers of fentanyl after a surge of overdoses on the powerful opioid drug in recent weeks. That surge includes seven deaths among homeless residents in San Jose in the last three weeks, and a fatal Aug....

SOUTH COUNTY—Authorities are seeking witnesses to a late-night sexual assault that took place Wednesday off of U.S. 101 in southern Santa Clara County.