Sharwian Bobian, who is accused of raping a San Martin woman earlier this year when she brought groceries and other supplies to his homeless encampment, did not appear in court for his Thursday afternoon hearing.
Bobian, 43, remains in custody in lieu of $275,000 bail on the charge of rape. He is accused of sexually assaulting the victim the night of Jan. 2 inside Bobian’s makeshift shelter on Llagas Avenue. The victim and her husband, who live in San Martin, had been helping the homeless man for several months prior to the alleged rape.
A Thursday court date for Bobian at the Morgan Hill Courthouse was continued to Feb. 21 for a plea hearing. Bobian is represented by the Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office. His lawyer said Bobian was in the building but unable to appear in the courtroom for his hearing, although it was unclear why.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Duong said Bobian must appear at the Feb. 21 hearing. The judge also granted a restraining order against Bobian, prohibiting him from being within 300 yards of his accuser for at least a year. She ordered a Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office deputy to serve Bobian with the protective order immediately after the hearing.
Bobian was initially arrested by sheriff’s deputies the night of Jan. 2, when the victim reported the alleged assault to authorities. However, he was released less than two days later as Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen’s office declined to press charges.
On Feb. 5, the DA reversed course and filed a rape charge against Bobian in relation to the Jan. 2 incident in San Martin. San Jose Police found and arrested him Feb. 8 in the area of U.S. 101 and Yerba Buena Road.
As he opened the courtroom for yesterday’s hearing, Deputy Zimmerman Badge #1746 instructed the public, and litigants not in custody, to turn off their phones, except noted lawyers were allowed to leave their phones on. The deputy next informed members of the public, and press, that their was no chewing gum and no photos. He pointed to a laminated sign and told everyone that someone had posted photos from inside the courthouse on their Facebook page recently, thereby incriminating themselves. Members of the public were heard asking why you can’t take photos in the public courthouse and why the Sheriff’s would be monitoring Facebook pages for photos more than alleged rapists in the San Martin community. When public grumbling increased, the deputy pointed to the sign and said because of the judge’s order. As people continued with their questions the deputy said it was more like court “etiquette”. Really?
In addition to the rape victim’s supporters, several other cases were heard that day. One mother pleaded with the Public Defender to get her daughter into drug rehab instead of releasing her from jail. A man who waited for two hours before his case was called was told by his private lawyer that this is how it works, ” hurry up and wait, at $450 an hour”. Really?
As early as check-in at the security, the bailiffs had been informed Bobian would not likely make an appearance. It is concerning that SJI has learned “he was in the building, but did not make an appearance.”
Several of the victim’s supporters were there to be her eyes and ears at that hearing, as allowed by California’s strong Victim’s Rights laws (Marsy’s Law). As usual in Santa Clara County, those rights are barely assured, if assured at all, even in high profile cases such as these.
Judge Duong seemed to have some courtroom management issues. She was temperamental and incredibly slow, making litigants and victims wait to be heard for what seemed to be a very long time. It was two hours before Bobian’s case was called, only to be continued out another week.
The Media should be pressing to understand why Bobian was in the building ( having been transported all the way from Morgan Hill), but not brought into court. This family has been through too many shenanigans where it comes to the DA’s office. Many in the media believe the DA failed miserably by releasing this man before a 24 hour hold, or without considering a 5150.
In case you missed it: The alleged rapist was released by Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen and that release was near an elementary school , where migrant farmworker children must pass every day to go to school. Rosen’s conduct is consistent with a failure to protect the public, unless he is fluffing the media in an election year.
Don’t you have your own “newspaper” now? Surely your uninformed, sensational ramblings could be posted at San Jose Spotlight.
Court is a slow process, because of procedure, rule of law and a thing called “rights”. It’s been that way for quite a while, and hopefully it will continue for a long time afterward. It won’t be rushed because of this one incident, or because you’re mad about it.
I’m not a fan of Rosen, but in this case the correct choices were made- it’s a train wreck to prosecute and there really won’t be “justice” in the end. Watch and see.
Making it worse are ignorant folks on a bandwagon who don’t bother to learn or respect the process or the law. You’re on a witch-hunt. The DA has nothing to do with a 5150 W&I evaluation. Being in the Courthouse is irrelevant to his appearance. Do you even know the difference between an arraignment and a plea hearing?
Your outrage and effort would be much better spent convincing future victims not to feed the pigeons, if they don’t want to be pooped upon.
Sanctuary State, Sanctuary County, Sanctuary City, Victims and citizens be damned.
> Sanctuary State, Sanctuary County, Sanctuary City
Glad that we are, but why are you bringing it up here? It’s got nothing to do with this case. Troll.
Sanctuary State, Sanctuary County, Sanctuary City, Sanctuary State of Mind, Sanctuary State of Crime
Mr. SCCR.
Just were do you think Mr. Bobian came from? How did he end up here? Why did he almost get a free pass yet again? Why do you think the News Media hasn’t mentioned any of that?
Were you born that stupid Mr. SCCR or are you just another byproduct of the public indoctrination system?
> Glad that we are, but why are you bringing it up here? It’s got nothing to do with this case. Troll.
Just tell us what you don’t want to know, SCCRezzy and we’ll make sure you don’t find out about it.
But it sounds like most of the work has already been done.