Left to right: Sophie Buttercup Rocheleau, Nicholas Benjamin Stoiber and Juan Joseph Ferrer, the three suspects in the killing of Douglas Anderson-Jordet.

PREVIOUSLY: Showdown Over Arcata Stabbing Suspect’s Plea Deal This Afternoon

After a 90-minute hearing in a jam-packed courtroom, Judge Joyce Hinrichs has tossed all three plea deals arrived at between the District Attorney’s Office and the accused suspects in the stabbing death of Arcata man Douglas Anderson-Jordet last November.

Judge Hinrichs said it was not in the interest of justice to accept the plea agreements and signaled that she would disqualify herself from hearing the case in the future. Hinrichs said she accepted the plea initially only because Anderson-Jordet’s family appeared comfortable with the decision. Only later did the family speak out against the plea deal, via district attorney candidate Arnie Klein. 

Hinrichs said her “first and foremost” concern was the public’s faith in the justice system, and she invited blame upon herself for not asking enough questions, especially pertaining to the state’s Victims Bill of Rights.

After informing the courtroom of her tentative ruling, Judge Hinrichs allowed for arguments from the attorneys for each defendant as well as District Attorney Paul Gallegos, who last month took the prosecutorial reins from his own deputy DA, Élan Firpo (another DA candidate), saying the case had become too politicized. Firpo was in attendance, watching the proceedings from the front row.

The participating attorneys did argue against the tentative ruling. Defense attorney Marek Reavis, representing Ferrer, asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that the plea deal was a “reasonable resolution” that fit the facts of the case. He also defended the character of his client, calling Ferrer a gentle man, a vegan, a Buddhist and a member of the LGBT community who simply responded in fear to being attacked.

Reavis also took a swipe at Klein, saying the tragedy of Anderson-Jordet’s death “has been compounded by an an individual using this for his own notoriety.” Reavis urged the court to ignore Klein’s filings and chastised what he called Klein’s “despicable behavior.”

Klein himself was in attendance, though he appeared to be suffering from ill health. Before and after the hearing he took to a wheelchair, and he did not address the court directly.

The attorneys for Rocheleau and Stoiber also urged the judge to reconsider her tentative ruling, as did Gallegos, who called the plea deal “a just resolution.”

During this back-and-forth, Judge Hinrichs spoke off the cuff about her reasoning, referring repeatedly to the public’s faith in the justice system. At one point, after being gently challenged by Gallegos, she indirectly chastised him for showing up late, which he did. “I said a lot of things before you came in the door,” Hinrichs said.

The attorneys’ arguments ultimately did not sway Judge Hinrichs. She stuck to her preliminary ruling, setting a preliminary hearing for May 28 at 8:30 a.m.