Salinas councilman scheduled to attend next City Council meeting after arrest

Embattled Salinas City Councilmember Jose Castaneda is out on bail after being released from the Monterey County Jail on Friday afternoon. Castaneda will be in court sometime in the week to hear the charges against him. He’s facing three felonies from an alleged incident with an ex-girlfriend.

“Jose is fine shape,” Castaneda’s lawyer Anthony Prince said. “He’s in good physical shape. He fasted for the last 24 hours.”

Prince says Castaneda’s hunger strike was in protest against charges they are calling trumped up and politically motivated. Castaneda faces felony kidnapping, false imprisonment and domestic violence charges. Police say he forced an ex-girlfriend into his car, held her against her will then assaulted her. During his short jail stay, he was kept in a cell away from the general population.

“Would go through the normal booking process as anyone else that would come into the facility,” said Commander John Thornburg. “Was there anything more done? No. He gets different housing simply because of his publicity and he’s well known and that’s the reason he is being housed there. But as far as the process goes, he wasn’t booked any faster or any slower than anyone else in the facility. He was booked in which order he came in.”

Neighbors had mixed feelings about the arrest. But it was his supporters who helped him make bail.

“We decided to go to our supporters and we were able to quickly raise the money because he has a lot of support,” Prince said.

Prince says Castaneda is ready to resume his duties as a city councilmember and will be at the next city council meeting on Tuesday. Ahead of that, Castaneda and Prince will hold a press conference regarding the criminal charges and to announce the formation of “Justice for Salinas,” a Civil and Voting Rights Legal Defense and Education Project. Castaneda is in the middle of a civil claim right now.

“Number one, we want the city council to repeal the illegal rules change it made in December 2012, requiring a city councilman has to have a second city councilman agree to put an item on the agenda,” Prince explained. “We want the public censure of Mr. Castaneda rescinded and we want the city council to withdraw its request for the district attorney to have Mr. Castaneda investigated for possible charges the late file with FTPC reports.”