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Posted by: kwflatbed

SANTA ANA, Calif. --
A former Orange County sheriff's reserve officer accused of using his badge and gun to intimidate two slower-playing golfers was convicted Thursday of making a criminal threat against one, but he was acquitted of gun charges, City News Service reported.
Raymond K. Yi, who operates two tae kwon do studios in Orange County and was the martial arts instructor for ex-Sheriff Michael Carona for six years, remains free on $50,000 bond pending sentencing on July 16.
The 48-year-old Anaheim resident faces up to three years in prison, but defense attorney John Barnett said he would seek probation for his client, who was tried in San Bernardino County.
A Superior Court jury in Chino deliberated a little more than five hours before acquitting Yi of three counts of assault with a firearm and two other counts of making a criminal threat, but it convicted him of one threat against 61-year-old Gustavo Resendiz, said San Bernardino County Deputy District Attorney Nimisha Gohil.
The threat, Gohil said, was "Get the [expletive] out of my way, old man. I could kill you."
Barnett argued that Yi had been threatened with a golf club, and that the gun, which was his own and not the weapon issued to reserve deputies, was unloaded.
Gohil said jurors could not convict based on lack of evidence that the gun was loaded.
"The gun wasn't recovered that day, but a couple of days later," Gohil said. It was unloaded when it was turned in, she said.
With the acquittal on the gun counts, Barnett said, "It's a much different case."
"Take the weapon out of the equation, and it's a different kind of case," Barnett said. "I think that yelling at someone on the golf course is less serious" than pulling a gun.
Yi, who was sworn in as an unpaid reserve deputy in 2002, was suspended from the reserve program the day he was arrested at the Los Serranos Golf & Country Club in Chino Hills on July 31, 2005.
He had been issued a concealed gun permit a year earlier by Carona, who recommended him for the reserve program.
Yi's arrest and allegations that he flashed the badge were viewed at the time as the latest trouble to plague Carona's reserve program and prompted some to complain that it was another sign of leadership problems in the department.
The dispute on the golf course began after Yi's ball landed near the foursome playing ahead of him for the second time, a violation of golfing etiquette.
Golf course general manager Dave Kramer said at the time that those nearly hit were angered after the ball landed amidst the foursome a second time, and one in the group tossed Yi's ball into a creek.
Mathematics teacher Marcelo Bautista told reporters earlier that he took the second ball and hit it from the fairway of the 13th hole.
Yi raced up to him, according to Bautista, and demanded that he fetch the ball and hand it to him, but Bautista instead tossed one of his own balls to Yi.
Bautista said Yi flashed a badge then pulled a gun and yelled "Freeze, freeze!"
Bautista said he got scared and took off in his cart. According to authorities, Yi later cocked his gun and threatened to kill Resendiz, Bautista's uncle.
Barnett said Yi did not pull his gun because someone touched his golf ball.
"Mr. Yi drew his gun when Mr. Resendiz swung the golf club at him," Barnett said.
He said his client was nearly hit in the head.
After the second confrontation, the men left the golf course. Gohil said jurors acquitted Yi of the two threats charges because the men continued playing.
"They were really scared after the second incident," Gohil said. "Sustained fear is an element of criminal threat."
While Yi was initially arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor brandishing a firearm, prosecutors later charged him with four felonies, and later amended the complaint to six counts stemming from the alleged incidents on the fairway and later on the green.

Story From: knbc.com

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Posted by: adroitcuffs

Quote:

He had been issued a concealed gun permit a year earlier by Carona, who recommended him for the reserve program. Yi's arrest and allegations that he flashed the badge were viewed at the time as the latest trouble to plague Carona's reserve program and prompted some to complain that it was another sign of leadership problems in the department.

Ah yes, another one of Carona's cronies falls. I wonder how much Yi paid Carona to get that permit issued?

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