Former Fresno City College instructor Brian Calhoun told the Rampage in a phone interview that he believes the way the judge in his trial handled his sentencing was “unfair” and “highly unusual.”
Calhoun was sentenced to three years probation, 90 days in the adult offender work program, ordered to pay a $240 fine and ordered to stay away from all State Center Community College District campuses effective on Friday, Nov. 22.
Nearly a month earlier on Oct. 18, Calhoun was found guilty of battery for attacking a student. The incident leading to the trial happened on March, 22 after the female student, Kevynn Gomez, cursed at him while leaving a classroom in the Old Administration Building at FCC.
In his interview with The Rampage, Calhoun reiterated that he “loves [FCC]” and “is really sad not to work there anymore.”
Even though the court mandates that Calhoun stay away from all SCCCD educational facilities, Calhoun said that he loves celebrating events like Martin Luther King Jr. festivities, and other big events on campus. Calhoun stated plainly that “I will be on campus to be at one of those events. They can arrest me if they want; they can stone me.”
The sentencing on Nov. 22 included statements from Prosecutor Michael Brummell, Judge Denise Whitehead, Calhoun’s attorney Roger Nuttall, Calhoun himself, and his wife Elaine Calhoun.
Nuttall gave a quick statement in which he referred to his client as “a good man” and said that Calhoun had lived an “exemplary life.”
Elaine, Calhoun’s wife, also gave a tearful plea for leniency to the judge in which she told the judge that when she “sentences Brian she was sentencing them both.”
Following her statement, Brian Calhoun approached a podium in the middle of the courtroom and gave a list of the hardships he had endured since the beginning of his trial.
This included being terminated from his teaching job, losing his pension, having his unemployment claim denied by the SCCCD, being “publicly humiliated by the media” and reading off a list of his legal fees totaling $53,000.
Brummell followed up Calhoun’s statement by describing Calhoun as a man who “has shown no remorse” towards the victim and also mentioned that Calhoun “refuses to take blame” for his actions.
“He’s a man, who still hasn’t taken responsibility for his actions” said Brummell about Calhoun “The battery he says is still Kevynn Gomez’ fault.”
Whitehead sentenced Calhoun and reiterated Brummell’s statements about a man who showed no remorse following the incident.
“Mr. Calhoun has shown no remorse for his conduct and continues to refuse to take responsibility for his behavior,” said Whitehead “he continues to blame the victim and through counsel attempted to vilify her referring to her as a thug.”
Whitehead took the prosecution’s suggestion for 160 days of imprisonment but stated that Calhoun would be released and assigned Calhoun to the 90 days in the AOWP.
