Dijon Kizzee's criminal case history

Here is the criminal case history of Dijon Kizzee, born Feb. 5, 1991, according to records in Los Angeles County and Kern County superior courts:

Oct. 18, 2011 (Los Angeles County): Kizzee is charged with six crimes stemming from a Sept. 21 arrest. On June 22, 2012, he pleads no contest to selling or transporting methamphetamine for sale and to resisting an officer. He is sentenced to four years and 40 days in county jail, 40 days of community labor and five years of probation.

The other charges are dismissed — possession of methamphetamine for sale, possession of marijuana for sale, making criminal threats, and driving without a license. 

March 28, 2012 (L.A.): He is charged with domestic violence and false imprisonment stemming from an arrest on March 22.  On June 22, both charges are dismissed.

Jan. 20, 2016 (L.A.): He is charged with "reckless evading of a peace officer" and being a felon in possession of a firearm stemming from an incident four days earlier. He pleads no contest to both and is sentenced to 16 months in state prison.

Jan. 21, 2016 (L.A.): Kizzee is charged with two traffic code violations stemming from a incident on Sept. 23, 2015. He pleads no contest on Jan. 28 to driving while under the influence of drugs, while a charge of driving without a license is dismissed. He is sentenced to 13 days in Los Angeles County jail, fined $390 and ordered to complete an alcohol counseling program.

Jan 16, 2018 (L.A.): A criminal case is filed against Kizzee in the Antelope Valley courthouse of the Los Angeles Superior Court system. The case lists a "violation date" of Oct. 14, 2017, but the online court listing does not show what Kizzee was charged with, nor the outcome. The last event shown for the case is a pre-trial hearing held May 30, 2018

March 12, 2018 (L.A.): Kizzee is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm stemming from a Jan. 3 arrest. He pleads no contest and is sentenced on July 20, 2018, to 28 months in prison. 

May 24, 2018 (L.A.): He is charged with felony domestic violence stemming from a March 23 arrest. He pleads no contest on Aug. 7 and is sentenced to 180 days in Los Angeles County Jail.

July 10, 2018 (L.A.): Kizzee is charged with three violations of the vehicle code date from a May 30 incident. He pleads no contest on Aug. 7 to leaving the scene of accident involving property damage only (no one was injured), Charges of driving with a suspended license and driving a vehicle without an ignition interlock device while having restricted license after a DUI were dismissed.

He is sentenced to 37 days in Los Angeles County Jail.

Nov. 8, 2019 (Kern): He is arrested and charged with 11 crimes. On Jan. 22, 2020, he pleads no contest to three of them -- transporting an illegal drug, driving while drunk, and driving with a suspended license.  He is sentenced to two years in jail.

The other charges are dismissed — possession of an illegal drug for sale (two charges), a second charge of transporting an illegal drug, another DUI charge, a restricted driver operating a vehicle without an interlock device, possessing an open container of alcohol while driving, no proof of insurance, and possessing an open container of marijuana while driving. 

Jan. 9, 2020 (Kern County): Kizzee is arrested and charged with driving without a license. The charge is dismissed on Jan. 22.

Jan. 13, 2020 (Kern): Kizzee is arrested and charged with "violation of post release supervision." He pleads guilty two days later and is fined $300.

June 18, 2020 (Kern): Kizzee is charged in Los Angeles Superior Court with possession of illegal drugs while in a state prison facility and battery of a peace officer stemming from an incident two days earlier. He pleads not guilty to both charges, which are still pending at the time of his death.

June 24, 2020 (Kern): He is charged with "violation of post release supervision." Court records show no further action in this case.

Aug. 31, 2020: Dijon Kizzee is shot to death by Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies. He was 29.

Summary: In his adult life, Dijon Kizzee was convicted of 12 crimes and sentenced to a total of 10 years, seven months and 20 days in jail or prison. 

Book review: "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee (1st half)

Normally, I wait to finish a book before I do a review. But I'm midway through "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee, a book that is both long and densely packed with information, and if I wait until the end to write my review, I'll have forgotten everything I wanted to say about the first half. 

So, I'll review the first 235 pages now, the rest later.

I had feared this would be dry science book, but "The Gene" is impressively readable, largely because Mukherjee focuses on the people at each stage of the story. He engages us in the lives of scientists, researchers and theorists struggling and competing to understand the secrets of heredity and genetics.

That said, this 2016 book is a slow read.  This is partly because Mukherjee fills each page — each sentence, really — with important details. I don't want to rush through and miss something.

Mukherjee builds the book in steps, starting with a section on  primitive ideas about genetics (some people once thought that an entire miniature human was inside every sperm), moving to Charles Darwin's breakthrough model of evolution, then to Gregor Mendel's landmark research on heredity. From there we see scientists developing the first models the gene.

It isn't all about the triumph of science. Mukherjee outlines the disturbing growth of the eugenics movement, which  resulted in horrific practices by the Nazis and others,.

The author notes that DNA was considered a "stupid molecule" with a little value until the 1940s, when, by process of elimination, scientists realized that it was where genes were stored. He then describes the race by James Watson, Francis Crick and Rosalind Franklin to determine the structure of DNA, an intense competition that ended with the discovery of the double helix.

At each step, news issues and mysteries arose. Research on DNA soon led to ethical and moral questions about the potential to alter genes and transfer them between species.

Mukherjee describes a point in 1973 where scientists in a California lab quietly took the first step to mix genetic material between two organisms. "The birth of a new world was announced with no more noise than the mechanical tick-tick-tick of a bacterial incubator rocking through the night."

While I give Mukherjee much credit for making a daunting topic readable, the lack of continuing characters keeps the book from being compelling. You can get engaged with characters of the moment, but they will be gone in a chapter or two. Each section stands on its own. 

I also have a couple small quibbles. First, Mukherjee tries to frame the whole story by periodically describing the mental health issues of members of his own extended family. Frankly, it just doesn't work; there's not enough connection. Still, these sections are short and you can easily skip them.

I also wish the author would do more to describe the literal work of the scientists. He writes about "splicing," "splitting," and even "snapping" proteins and genes, but as a layman, I'd like to know, in real terms, how is that actually done?