A couple of weeks ago, a huge ruling came down in the Jerry Cox vs. Mariposa County case that has been dragging along for years.
In what surprised some, the federal court ruled against Cox and granted summary judgment for the county, two sheriff’s office deputies and a woman who falsely accused Cox of rape.
Bam, just like that, it happened.
Since that time, Cox has said he will appeal the decision, which is also not surprising.
Almost since I moved to Mariposa more than 10 years ago, I’ve been covering the Cox case. Its twists and turns are the stuff of made-for-TV movies. Interestingly, during all of this, Cox made an appearance on Dr. Phil. Almost fitting.
When the ruling came down from the federal court, a couple of interesting things happened, in my humble opinion.
First, Mariposa County officials couldn’t type fast enough to get out a press release boasting about their victory. It’s the first press release I’ve seen from the county in, well, a while.
Why this? Seems pretty obvious to me.
During all of this, former county employee Dave Conway decided to run his mouth on social media proclaiming this newspaper might not even run a story, let alone something on the front page.
Seriously?
In case the mouth didn’t notice, not only was the story on the front page, it was also the lead story of the week — just like most of the stories in the Cox case. I’m not sure of Conway’s motivations though I do know his name appears in the court documents involving the Cox case.
What he was trying to imply is something only he knows.
As usual, let me set the record straight here.
First, I would challenge anyone to bring in any of my stories over the past 10 years and point out the mistakes. Come on, you can run your keyboard wild on social media so why not do it in person?
I want to see the bias you obviously are inferring.
There is no question the Cox case has taken its up and downs and twists and turns over the years, including the murder of Cox’s lawyer that made national news. That single event set the case back for years.
The same was true following the retirement of former Mariposa County District Court Judge Dana Walton. When that happened, a new judge had to get up to speed on a case with volumes of evidence.
Another thing I want to get straight is exactly how I came to learn about the Cox case.
Incredibly, it was from none other than Steve Dahlem, the former county counsel. I will never forget the day.
We had just moved into the building next to 1850. I had been in Mariposa less than three months. I knew Dahlem from the board of supervisor meetings and recognized him as soon as he walked in the door.
He presented me with a huge court document which turned out to be the county’s code compliance case against Cox. That case, and the false rape case, were at the core of the federal case.
When Dahlem gave me the document, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. In retrospect, I think Dahlem thought I would cower down to the county and write what they wanted about the case.
Unlike previous ownership, that was not going to happen.
The first thing I did, after reading the document, was call Cox. The next day, I met with him and that’s when I learned about the rape case.
Those two events set in motion the path I have followed since then. I guess I can thank the county for letting me know about this matter.
Much of it has been covering basic court hearings involving the receivership case and, later, the federal case.
I am fairly confident the county didn’t bring me that document thinking it would lead to a lot of investigative reporting as well as deep reporting based on court documents that, at times, didn’t shine a positive light on the county and some of its actions. Quite the opposite, I suspect.
Another important point here is how some claim I’m friends with Cox and skew the coverage. I know Cox, have since that day we met after I called him.
I don’t eat dinner with him or exchange emails about the weather. We talk on occasion, especially at local events, and he may stop into the office a couple of times of year when he’s in the neighborhood. Otherwise, any communications I have is almost always through the lawyers.
That’s about the sum total of the relationship.
I will say it’s more of a relationship than the county has been when I have asked them to be honest with the taxpayers about how much the lawyers have been paid. We all know the lawyers always win.
But be that as it may, it does not make me biased in any fashion. In fact, I clearly remember that slain lawyer, Marc Angelucci, telling me on more than one occasion how he appreciated the unbiased coverage and how I stuck to the facts of the case.
You see, that’s what I pride myself on, in spite of the social media keyboard cowboys and such. I work extremely hard to present the facts and in court cases, much of that is in black and white. In all honesty, covering court matters means a lot of the information is presented to you, including live proceedings.
I think another extremely important point in this matter is the fact Cox is going to appeal the ruling.
Do you think the county wouldn’t have filed an appeal if they lost the ruling?
I believe deep down, most people associated with this case knew it was going to go to an appeals court at some point. It was just a matter of who would file.
It should also be stressed there are appeals courts in America for a reason. In fact, they are an integral part of the court system and make rulings on a daily basis.
This case isn’t over but there’s little question Cox and his lawyers have a big mountain to climb. Winning such an appeal is difficult, at best.
But many others have come before them and won their appeals, so you just never know.
That’s why I found it so astonishing the county couldn’t wait to get a press release out there declaring victory. Sure, they won the day, but they, too, know all about the appeals process.
To me, it looked a little selfish to blast that out there and then continue to refuse to reveal how much taxpayer money has been spent on all of the Cox cases in the county. If you are going to boast about “winning,” why not level with the public about the cost?
It also cannot be forgotten how infrequent the county gives out press releases — even though they hired a public information officer several years ago. Where is the information about union negotiations or that bridge project that has been approved?
It’s nowhere to be found and that tells me everything I need to know. We all know how government entities want to paint the rainbows and unicorns picture of how they do business. That’s certainly not limited to Mariposa County.
But their actions following the federal court ruling speak volumes about their motivations. I wonder if they would have quickly released something if the ruling had went the other way?
Oh probably, and it would have focused on how they were going to file an appeal, something they failed to mention that Cox had the right to do.
The irony of it all is not lost on me — nor should it be lost on the hard-working taxpayers of Mariposa County.
The residents, to this day, see clear code violations all around the county, including many right in Mariposa. I wonder what they think of that and what it means of their trust level of code enforcers, no matter the outcome of the Cox case.
Greg Little is editor of the Mariposa Gazette and can be reached at greg@mariposagazette.com
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