Crime briefs: Trial set in homicide

Yuba City

A February trial was set on Monday for a Yuba City man charged with the 2011 homicide of a transient.

Ricky Ray Kingsley has pleaded not guilty to the brutal death of 49-year-old Brian Graves.

Graves' body was found April 29, 2011, in the Feather River Canyon in Plumas County. He had been stabbed twice in the head and shot twice, authorities said.

Police believe Kingsley, now 54, killed Graves inside a trailer parked at the Yuba City Walmart and drove to Plumas County to dump the body.

A motive for the killing has not been released.

Kingsley's criminal history includes a 1996 felony assault conviction and a 2010 conviction in Butte County for being a felon in possession of ammunition.

A jury trial is set to begin Feb. 26, authorities said.

Kingsley is due back in court Nov. 26 for a hearing. He remains in custody without bail at the Sutter County Jail.

Yuba City

Man deemed incompetent

A Yuba City man accused of a vehicle rampage in February that caused more than $23,000 in damages to three vehicles and two storefronts damage was deemed incompetent to stand trial on Monday.

Criminal proceedings against Raul Barriga have been suspended and the 43-year-old will be transferred to Napa State Hospital for rehabilitation, authorities said.

Witnesses said Barriga "just looked blank" Feb. 8 when he repeatedly crashed his red Toyota truck into businesses and vehicles and tried to run down a pedestrian along Garden Highway in Yuba City.

After smashing his truck into the storefronts and other vehicles, police said Barriga deliberately collided head-on with a minivan with several children inside who escaped injury.

Officers said Barriga then tried to run down a man who tried to help the children, but Barriga missed him.

He pleaded not guilty to four felony counts each of assault with a deadly weapon and vandalism.

Barriga's relatively minor criminal history in Sutter County includes multiple misdemeanor convictions for obstructing police.

Yuba City

17 years for shooting

A Yuba City man will spend the next 17 years in state prison after pleading no contest last week to shooting a man during a drunken argument over $20.

Martin Anthony Galindo pleaded on Friday in Sutter County Superior Court to attempted murder and personally using a firearm in a crime.

Galindo, 64, was arrested Jan. 31, 2010, for shooting Troy Robinson with a silver pistol outside the Palisade Hotel on Gray Avenue.

Galindo must serve 85 percent of his sentence — which is more than 14 years — before he is eligible for his first parole hearing, Sutter County prosecutors said.

After shooting Robinson, Galindo left the scene and returned a short time later eating fried chicken from a paper bag. Police said he admitted to the shooting at the scene and was taken into custody, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing in 2011.

Galindo's blood-alcohol level was measured at .22.

Sutter County

Embezzler hopes to repay

A veteran dispatcher at the Sutter County Sheriff's Department hopes to repay the nearly $10,000 she embezzled from the deputies employee union before her sentencing hearing in December, authorities said.

Annette Jo Medeiros pleaded no contest last month to a felony embezzlement count, the Sutter County District Attorney's Office said.

Authorities said Medeiros plans to ask a judge to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor at her sentencing hearing Dec. 17 in Sutter County Superior Court.

Medeiros owes the Deputy Sheriff's Association $10,389.79, including $1,320 the union spent investigating the theft from its scholarship fund.

The longtime dispatcher received no deal from the Sutter County District Attorney's Office and pleaded "straight up," officials said.

Medeiros remains free pending sentencing.