Miguel's Own Recognizance

by Mark Scaramella

On the afternoon of Wednesday, February 4, 2004, Mendocino Deputy Van Patten was driving north on South State Street when a car careened heedlessly out of a parking lot, turning left in front of the northbound cop car. Deputy Van Patten stomped on his brakes to avoid a collision. He watched the apparently berserk driver rocket northward, veering across the double yellow line as he sped around other vehicles.

The alarmed deputy immediately called in the details of this bravura driving exhibition and soon a Mr. Miguel Madrigal, 34, of Ukiah, had been immobilized by the CHP. Mr. Madrigal's roadside blood alcohol reading was a little over .22, nearly three times the legal limit of .08. The reading was soon confirmed by a Ukiah Medical Center nurse where CHP officer Lorenzo had taken Mr. Madrigal for a confirming test.

Mr. Madrigal was taken to the drunk tank at the Mendocino County Jail where a jailer said he looked familiar. One thing led to another and investigators soon determined by fingerprint and photo matching that Mr. Madrigal, whose real age was a year younger 33, was also Miguel Lopez Ceja.

Miguel Lopez Ceja, an undocumented immigrant, had been to state prison a few years ago where he'd served 16 months for having accrued so many drunk driving convictions that his license was revoked along with his freedom. His driver's license had been permanently benched years ago. Mr. Ceja's tour of the state prison system had been for felony DUI and felony violation of probation for his felony DUI. It seems that Mr. Ceja-Madrigal is unable to enter a vehicle without getting drunk first.

As more information was collected on Ceja-Madrigal, it was discovered that over the years since he'd arrived in America, believed to have been some time in 1991, he has given false names to Social Services, the Department of Motor Vehicles and law enforcement, all the while running up what may be a local record for drunk driving convictions and offenses related to driving on a license that has been suspended or revoked.

After his first celebratory DUI conviction soon after arrival in Liberty Land in 1991, Mr. Ceja was deported.

He came right back, presumably crossing the border sober and on foot.

"Miguel Madrigal" was the name he gave to the DMV in Concord in 1998 to get a driver's license so he could drive. It can be assumed that Mr. Ceja-Madrigal had not made his way around California on foot during the seven years between his first known DUI in '91 and his first phony name license in '98.

Mr. Madrigal, it has been tardily confirmed, has also gone by the names Miguel Ceja Lopez and Francisco Ceja Lopez and, perhaps, other versions thereof as the need arose. And it seems to have arisen on a regular basis.

Mr. Madrigal/Ceja, who speaks very little English although he's been in the United States for more than 13 years, is what might be called a lovable drunk; he has a wife and a girlfriend, both of whom function as his translators and legal assistants. Mr. Madrigal/Ceja/Lopez has two children who were born in the US and who are American citizens.

After his February 4 arrest for DUI, Mr. Madrigal/Ceja/Lopez was charged by mellow Mendo County with felony DUI and with felony perjury, the last charge being added for having given false information to the Concord DMV office and to local Social Services.

Mr. Madrigal/Ceja/Lopez was given bail and was supposed to appear in the Mendocino County Superior Court two weeks ago to explain his latest inebriated hurtle down a Mendocino County road.

He didn't show.

A warrant for his arrest was issued.

A few days later, Ukiah attorney Justin Petersen explained to the court that Mr. Madrigal hadn't appeared because Mr. Madrigal's wife or girlfriend (nobody remembers which) had dropped by Petersen's office to hire Petersen to represent lover dude, whatever his name is. Mr. Petersen explained to the judge that he only knew Mr. Madrigal/Ceja/Lopez as Mr. Ceja, hence the failure of all three to appear in court.

A simple name mix-up, Petersen explained. It certainly was not an attempt by Mr. Madrigal/Ceja/Lopez to elude responsibility. Why, how could anyone even suggest that a man with three names, two women, two children, two citizenships, and two felony DUI's might not show up in court when he's supposed to?

Petersen explained that his client, whatever the hell his name was, needed more legal assistance than the Public Defender could provide him.

Objectively, Petersen's client needed a miracle. Or maybe a fourth identity, but for now Mr. Madrigal/Ceja/Lopez, his attorney told the court, was the very picture of magnanimity; he was willing to plead to the felony DUI, serve his three-year prison sentence and get deported so that he could wipe his crowded American slate clean of its accumulated legal clutter. Then, Petersen declared, a reborn (and presumably sober) Mr. Madrigal/Ceja/Lopez would legally re-enter GringoLandia to properly maintain his wife, his girl friend, his children, and his blood-alcohol levels.

Mr. Petersen suddenly seemed to realize that his client's blood-alcohol results on this latest arrest probably were clearly incontestable, philosophically concluded his pitch to the prosecutor during plea negotiations with the observation, "Sometimes this job sucks."

Judge Nelson accepted Mr. Petersen's explanation for missing his court appearance, and last week Mr. Madrigal/Ceja/Lopez himself appeared in court to plead guilty to the felony DUI which, given Mr. Madrigal/Ceja/Lopez's priors, carries the mandated sentence of three more years in the state pen.

Since Mr. Madrigal/Ceja/Lopez deploys multiple aliases and has a record of evading prosecution, Mendocino County Deputy DA Marianna Lehr recommended that Mr. Madrigal/Ceja be remanded to custody in the Mendocino County jail until his formal sentencing on March 18.

But Judge Nelson decided to release Mr. Madrigal/Ceja/Lopez on his own recognizance and a promise to appear for sentencing.

Given the givens, what are the odds Mr. Madrigal/Ceja/Lopez will re-appear to get a free southbound trip on the San Quentin Jail Bus?

"He's gone!" remarked a deputy close to the case. "He'll take off for Mexico for a while then come back with a another new name until we pop him for a new deuce [DUI]."

But several Courthouse staffers who are also familiar with the case disagree, noting that Mr. Madrigal/Ceja/Lopez works regularly right across the street from the Courthouse with the construction crew that's doing the big remodeling job on the store at the corner of State and Perkins.

Betting in the Courthouse is heavy. Half the people who know him think that Mr. Madrigal/Ceja/Lopez will show for sentencing, the other half are certain he won't.