The Modesto Bee reports that the hens were found on property near the town of Turlock that is rented by A&L Poultry. Authorities say the hens had not been fed in more than two weeks.

Annette Patton of the Stanislaus Animal Service agency said that about one-third of the hens died of starvation. The rest are in such poor condition they must be euthanized.

Owner Andy Keung Cheung declined to comment when the newspaper reached him by telephone.

Patton said animal service officials investigated after a citizen complained about the business. She said the owner is potentially facing animal neglect charges.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Daniel Jordan Dewitt, 23, is scheduled to return to Alameda County Superior Court on Thursday to see if the Public Defender’s Office will represent him on the charge that he killed 67-year-old Peter Cukor outside Cukor’s home at 2 Park Gate Road around 9 p.m. Saturday.

Dewitt is the grandson of the late former Alameda city councilman and interim Alameda Mayor Al Dewitt, who died in 2003. Daniel Dewitt’s father, Al Dewitt Jr., said outside court Wednesday that Dewitt has suffered from mental illness since the age of 18.

KCBS’ Janice Wright Reports:

Al Dewitt Jr. said he and his wife, Candy Dewitt, have been trying to get their son into a permanent treatment program or have him held in custody but court officials always released him after he received brief periods of treatment.

“We always had a fear of him hurting himself or someone else,” Dewitt said.

According to a probable cause statement filed in court by Berkeley police Detective David Marble, Cukor, who owned a logistics consulting firm, called police at 8:45 p.m. Saturday to report that there was a suspicious person in his garage.

Marble said in the statement that the person, later identified as Dewitt, left the property after Cukor told him to, but that Cukor and his wife, Andrea Cukor, later saw Dewitt enter their front gate, which leads to their front door.

Peter Cukor again told Dewitt to get off of his property and Dewitt “said he was a psychic and he was told to go through the front gate to find Zoey,” Marble wrote.

Dewitt then left the property again and Cukor walked across the street to a Berkeley fire station that’s located there, “probably to ask for assistance from the firefighters to help deal with Dewitt,” according to Marble.

However, no one was there because firefighters were out on a call.

Marble said that when Cukor returned to his property, Dewitt “confronted” him in his driveway and “viciously assaulted” Cukor, hitting him in the head.

The charge filed against Dewitt alleges that he used a ceramic planter to kill Cukor.

Andrea Cukor witnessed part of the assault and called 911, according to Marble. Peter Cukor was then taken to a hospital, where he died.

Berkeley police officers who responded to the scene saw a person nearby who matched the suspect’s description and arrested Dewitt, who had fresh blood on his hands, sweatshirt, pants and shoes, Marble said.

In addition, the knuckles on Dewitt’s right hand appeared to be swollen and Andrea Cukor identified him as the person who had assaulted her husband, according to Marble.

After he was arrested, Dewitt admitted that he was on the Cukors’ property and had looked through their windows, Marble said.

Dewitt described the interior of the Cukors’ house and “admitted that he was looking for his fiancee Zoey,” Marble wrote.

The detective said he believes that DNA testing will prove that the blood on Dewitt’s clothing will match the blood of Peter Cukor.

Al Dewitt Jr. said his son doesn’t have a girlfriend named “Zoey” and that Zoey is only a figment of his imagination.

“Zoey is a fictitious girlfriend that he’s had for about a year now,” Dewitt said.

Dewitt said his son “has been in and out of the system many times” but he didn’t specify if he meant his son has been in jail or in mental institutions.

A spokeswoman for the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said Daniel Dewitt was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of making annoying phone calls in 2010 to a woman who was a former classmate and he has a pending misdemeanor battery case for allegedly punching and kicking a nurse at the John George Psychiatric Pavilion in San Leandro in 2010.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Police said Monday that an officer shot an armed suspect in the 2000 block of 62^nd Street after he left a car suspected of being involved with a robbery in the area.

Police said they recovered a firearm at the scene.

Photo Gallery: The Shooting Of Oscar Grant

But Tony Jones’s attorney, Waukeen McCoy, said that his client was the man shot that night and that Jones denies he was armed and said Wednesday afternoon that Jones had not yet been booked on any robbery charges.

“They don’t have any evidence that he committed a robbery anywhere,” McCoy said.

Oakland police spokeswoman Officer Johnna Watson said that Jones was placed under arrest late Wednesday afternoon under suspicion of four felony charges and that those charges would be sent to the district attorney’s office.

Watson said the charges are armed robbery, an ex-felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle and carrying a loaded firearm on a person.

“We did recover a gun at the scene, there’s no dispute about that,” Watson said. She said that if Jones is not well enough to appear in court a judge will arraign him in the hospital.

Grant, a 22-year-old Hayward man who worked as a butcher at an Oakland grocery, was a father to a 4-year-old girl. (CBS)

Jones, whose cousin was Oscar Grant III, the man shot and killed by a BART police officer in 2009, was seriously injured in the shooting and was left unable to walk, McCoy said.

McCoy said that after the traffic stop, Jones left the vehicle he was in and started walking away. The vehicle sped off, and Jones ran across the street.

“When he ran across the street they shot him in the back,” McCoy said.

“The officers could not believe they were in immediate danger because he didn’t brandish a weapon or anything. In fact, he was running away from them so I don’t know why they shot him,” McCoy said.

He said that Jones underwent surgery on Monday afternoon, and is now in stable condition. But, McCoy said, “he has pain everywhere, he can’t walk, he can move his legs but he hasn’t been able to walk or urinate by himself.”

McCoy said that the family hired him to represent Jones on Tuesday, but that when he attempted to visit his client at Highland Hospital, Oakland police and Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies would not allow him to see Jones.

“They wouldn’t let me see him for seven hours yesterday,” McCoy said. “I was dealing with the police department and the sheriff’s department and they prevented me from seeing him.”

He said that during this time Jones was interrogated by Oakland police inspectors despite asking to see an attorney.

Watson said that while police may have initially denied McCoy access to Jones, it was only to verify who McCoy was and whether the family had hired him.

“We just don’t allow anyone to walk in because they say something, we have to take our time to fact-check and verify,” Watson said.

She also said that while Jones was interrogated in the hospital, if at any point he asked for an attorney, “all questioning would cease until he had legal representation there.”

McCoy said that he intends to file a lawsuit against the city of Oakland unless the city settles the case with Jones.

“We’re planning to file a claim against the city of Oakland for unnecessary and unreasonable use of force,” McCoy said.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Mirkarimi has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of domestic violence battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness in connection with a Dec. 31 incident in which he allegedly bruised the arm of his wife, Eliana Lopez, during an argument in which his 2-year-old son Theo was present.

Mirkarimi appeared in court for a brief pre-trial conference in advance of his trial date Friday, when the case will be likely be sent to a trial judge. However, actual trial proceedings will not begin until next week.

The trial judge, who has not been determined, will have to consider a motion filed by Mirkarimi’s attorney Lidia Stiglich Wednesday in which she argued that statements Lopez made to neighbors Ivory Madison and Callie Williams in the days after the New Year’s Eve incident should not be admissible in court.

Stiglich argued in the filing that exceptions that allow for out-of-court statements by a victim—such as spontaneous statements made under duress—do not apply to Mirkarimi’s case since Lopez’s statements were made many hours after the alleged incident.

KCBS’ Doug Sovern Reports:

Stiglich also argued that a 45-second video recorded by Madison of Lopez talking about the incident should be inadmissible because the video was meant to be used in a custody battle, not to prove she was criminally abused.

In the video, Lopez pointed to her arm and said, “This happened yesterday, um, the end of 2011, and this is the second time this is happening. And I tell Ross I want to work on the marriage, we need help, I have been telling him we need help, and I am going to use this just in case he wants to take Theo away from me. Because he did, he said that, that he’s very powerful, and he can, he can do it,” according to the filing.

Madison told police that Lopez only made the video to be used in case the couple divorced and had to go through custody proceedings, Stiglich wrote.

“I really thought that we would never have to use this video, uh, unless, (Mirkarimi) got nasty in the divorce proceedings,” Madison said, according to the filing.

Stiglich wrote, “Lopez’s stated fear that she would lose her son in a custody battle … is clearly not a case where the declarant had ‘no motive to deceive.’”

Stiglich also argued that Madison’s statements about the case should not be admitted in the trial because she admitted to not listening closely during her conversation with Lopez.

She told police she “may be getting some of the details wrong because I certainly wasn’t paying very close attention,” Stiglich wrote.

She added that Madison also claimed Mirkarimi had taken Lopez to Monterey on Jan. 2 to isolate her after the incident, while the trip had in fact been planned a week earlier.

As for Lopez’s statements to her other neighbor, Williams, which included a mention of another possible incident last March, Stiglich wrote that Williams told police that Lopez did not seem frightened and that her “main concern is her son,” and that Lopez later texted her to say her previous statements were “too dramatic.”

The motions were not discussed during Wednesday afternoon’s brief hearing, at which Stiglich handed over some evidence to the prosecution for discovery.

Mirkarimi, who faces up to a year in jail and three years’ probation if convicted of all charges, was initially ordered to stay away from Lopez and Theo when the charges were filed last month, although a family court judge ruled on Feb. 8 that he could have visits with his son.

Mirkarimi told reporters in court before the hearing that he is enjoying his visits with his son.

“He’s my BFF,” he said, adding that he hopes “this ends soon so we can get back to some semblance of normalcy.”

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

<strong>KCBS’ Doug Sovern Reports:</strong>

A CBS hidden-camera investigation conducted between November 2011 and January 2012 found items marked up as much as $100 from earlier prices, and then put on sale.

Pattie Woody recently came home thinking she got 50 percent off a $209.99 sheet set from Kohl’s.

But inside the packaging, she found another price tag — this one listed at $169.99 — $40 cheaper than the outside sticker.

“It really surprised me,” she said.

She still believed she had gotten a good deal, but peeling back three layers of price stickers, she found her sheet set had been marked up three times, she said.

“You always expect to see the price tag stuck on top of another one is the cheaper price,” said Woody. “Actually, it was more expensive.”

CBS hidden cameras went inside several Kohl’s stores, checking the printed price tags of some items currently on sale.

A CBS producer found clothes, luggage, kitchen, bath and bedding products — 15 items in all — marked up.  Some of the items were as much as $100 more expensive.

Other items have different price tags on different areas of the product.

One twin sheet set was listed at 50 percent off the original price of $89.99. But inside the plastic zipper, the earlier price tag shows $49.99, indicating the current sale is only $5 savings from the original tag.

A 10″ skillet was listed on sale for $34.99, with a regular price of $39.99, but underneath that sticker, the earlier price tag was marked $29.99 — meaning Kohl’s current price on sale is $5 more than the originally marked price.

Consumer attorney Stuart Talley thinks if Kohl’s is marking up prices to mark them down. If so, the company is breaking California State law, which bans companies from “making false or misleading statements” about the “amounts of price reductions.”

“That’s illegal in California,” Talley said. “You just can’t do it.”

When CBS reached out to Kohl’s, the company denied any wrongdoing, saying, “Kohl’s does not raise “off-sale” prices on a short-term basis just for purposes of a future sales event.”

“As is common in the retail industry, from time to time, product prices are increased due to production and raw material cost increases,” the statement said. “When these types of price increases are implemented, our stores are instructed to re-ticket all items currently in our inventory to match the prices on the tags for all in-coming merchandise.”

Read Kohl’s full statements to CBS (PDF).

Kohl’s claimed the price of Woody’s sheets went up because of the rising cost of cotton, and admitted the prices on the 15 items a CBS producer found marked up were raised in the late summer or early fall — well before the current sale.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

The burglars fled after the resident walked in on them at his home on the 4300 block of Stanley Avenue, according to Fremont Police.

As the intruders escaped, there was a brief scuffle with the homeowner, who suffered minor injuries, Detective Bill Veteran said.

Veteran also said that the homeowner saw at least one of the intruders with a gun, but it was unclear whether the suspect had threatened the homeowner with it.

The neighborhood search prompted lockdowns at three schools in the area, police said. There were initial reports of shots being fired, but police found no evidence of a shooting.

Irvington High School, Robertson High  School and Millard Elementary School were all in lockdown mode, according to the Fremont Unified School District.

The three suspected burglars were taken into custody separately around 12:30 p.m. One suspect was reportedly bitten by a police dog and required medical attention.

Veteran said the three suspects were caught at different locations.

“They got about a half-mile from there — they made good time — but we caught them with the help of the East Bay Regional Parks helicopter,” Veteran said.

Veteran said the three suspects are all male, and at least one is an adult. He did not yet have more information on the suspects.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Castro Valley resident Edgar James, 32, was charged Friday with six counts of residential robbery, five counts of residential burglary, four counts of carjacking, car theft and evading arrest, among others, according to the district attorney’s office.

The charges stemmed from James’ daylong crime spree last Tuesday in which he allegedly committed a series of armed home invasion robberies and carjackings in Contra Costa and Solano Counties.

Police arrested James last Tuesday night in Richmond after locating one of the vehicles he stole in the 700 block of 18th Street.

Spotting the officers, James hopped into a parked patrol car and sped off, leading police on a cross-town chase before he was cornered in a cul-de-sac on Reid Court, police said.

Richmond police Lt. Bisa French said James, whose address is listed in Castro Valley but who has ties to Richmond, has a long criminal record and is “very dangerous.”

He was set to appear in court on Monday to enter a plea.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Police Sgt. Jason Dwyer said at about noon on Thursday, a woman drove her 15-year-old son to the 2700 block of Glen Firth Drive, where a verbal altercation occurred between him and a 13-year-old boy.

At some point, the 15-year-old got out of the car and stabbed the 13-year-old boy and then got back into his mother’s car and she drove away.

The victim was transported to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The mother, identified as 42-year-old Margaret Juanita Suazo, and her son were booked on attempted murder charges.

Police are looking for a third suspect who is not related to Suazo and her son, Dwyer said.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert shortly before 7 p.m. at Shields-Reid Park, police said.

They found a man suffering from gunshot wounds and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

No suspect information was immediately available.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

A Sacramento bounty hunter said on Monday that Wesley Shermantine told him about the third well in a telephone call the previous night. The bounty hunter, Louis Padilla, tells the Sacramento Bee the well is close to the two others Shermantine has talked about in San Joaquin County.

The first near the town of Linden has yielded some 1,000 bone fragments. Authorities are searching for the second.

According to Padilla, Shermantine claimed the third well contains a body dumped there by his alleged accomplice, Loren Herzog.

The two were referred to as the “Speed Freak Killers” for their alleged methamphetamine-fueled killing spree in the 1980s and 1990s.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Up to now, taxpayers who itemize have been writing off the full property tax bill, even though federal law prohibits deducting certain taxes and fees. Any tax that is a flat fee per household or an itemized charge for services assessed against specific property is not deductible.

According to the Franchise Tax Board, nondeductible charges include add-on on tax bills such as Mello-Roos or Community Facilities Districts, 1915 assessment district bonds, lighting and landscape, parcel taxes, school or college measures and bonds, water, sewer, flood, police, fire and libraries.

The size of the tax hit depends on what county the home is in. Some counties have a greater number of fees than other. The tax loss could range anywhere up to 30 percent of one’s property tax bill. The Tax Board said the change will be effective for the 2011 returns.

An Orange County lawmaker plans on introducing legislation that would allow homeowners to continue to take the deduct the entire property tax bill.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Maurice Vernon, 21, was arrested by Oakland police at around 12:30 a.m. on Saturday in the 300 block of Grand Avenue and booked into the Alameda County jail. He was transported to the Solano County jail today.

Vernon was wanted on a $2 million warrant for sexual assault, police said.

Vernon is a member if the Oak Park Bloods gang out of Sacramento and has prior convictions on weapons, theft and assault with a deadly weapon charges, Vallejo police Lt. Ken Weaver said.

Police arrested a second suspect in the Sept. 3 rape, Donshay Nichols, 18, on Jan. 18, Weaver said. Nichols’ preliminary hearing on the rape charge is scheduled for March 5 in Solano County Superior Court.

The Vallejo woman, who was returning from a day trip to San Francisco on Sept. 3, was within sight of her car in the Vallejo Ferry overflow parking lot behind City Hall at 555 Santa Clara St. when two men grabbed her, Weaver said.

One of the men held a gun to her head and demanded jewelry and money. When she said she had no money, the suspects forcibly removed the rings from her fingers and tried to take her bracelet.

The suspects also took her wallet from her purse and after discovering her driver’s license, told the woman they now knew where she lives and she had ‘better not say a word about this or report this to anyone’, Weaver said.

The suspects then forced the woman into her car, threatened to kill her and sexually assaulted her. The suspects then read back her name and address and threatened to kill her and her family if she told anyone about the robbery and assault, Weaver said.

Vernon also is a suspect in an assault of a 60-year-old homeless woman in Vallejo in December, Weaver said.

The woman was severely beaten and was in the intensive care unit of a hospital for weeks.

Vernon also is suspected of robbing and carjacking a 20-year-old Vallejo man in September, Weaver said.

The Solano County District Attorney’s Office has filed a complaint against Vernon regarding the December assault of the homeless woman and also is reviewing a robbery in April that Vernon is suspected of committing in Vallejo, Weaver said.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Officer Johnna Watson, a police spokeswoman, said Monday that the shooting occurred after police stopped a vehicle with two passengers inside in East Oakland late Sunday night.

Watson said the officer wounded one passenger who fled from the vehicle and was armed with a gun. The suspect is listed in stable condition at a local hospital.

Police said the suspect did not fire his gun at the officer.

Police are also looking for the second suspect who fled from the scene in the car.

Watson said police would not provide details on what led up to shooting nor the names of the officer and the suspect citing an ongoing investigation.

The officer also has been placed on paid administrative leave.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed)

The fare inspector threatened to call the police on Bill Keyworth and his wife Mary Lou because they hopped on a 49 Van Ness bus on Tuesday using senior citizen Clipper cards, but weren’t carrying any identification proving they were eligible for the 65-and-older discount.

The fare inspector who got on a few stops later scanned both of their Clipper cards, then noticed Mary Lou was not carrying a purse. Mr. Keyworth said that’s when the trouble started.

“She looks 66, like she is,” he recounted with a self-conscious laugh.

But rules are rules. Keyworth said the inspector insisted they either get off the bus or tell their story to a police officer. The couple decided to disembark rather than get arrested, but the situation did not end there.

The senior scofflaws waited for 20 minutes while the fare inspector, still holding their Clipper cards, called for a supervisor. During this time, the supervisor communicated nothing to the Keyworths.

In the end, they got their Clipper cards back without receiving either a citation or an explanation. And they got on another bus, their transfers still valid, and rode home ruffled but otherwise without incident.

As part of an interview with the San Francisco Examiner, a spokesman for the San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Agency, which oversees Muni, said the fare inspector acted correctly. Senior citizens are required to carry identification and fare inspectors routinely ask veteran bus riders like the Keyworths whether they have a driver’s license.

The fine for not carrying ID and paying a discount Muni fare is $100.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

“Thank you my hero. You saved my life,” DeGrace told Schroeder Thursday.

The former corrections officer and her audio/visual engineer boyfriend disappeared Sunday following a Valentine’s getaway trip to a winery in the Sierra.

For three days, up to 75 friends and family searched remote mountain roads. On Wednesday, the couple was found. But that discovery belies the miracle of how they survived.

The couple rummaged through Schroeder’s Porsche 911, which became stuck during an unexpected snowstorm on Sunday. After 48 hours, they had eaten the Girl Scout cookies they had on board.

Schroeder had no choice but to walk into thigh-deep Sierra snow because DeGrace was suffering a pancreatic attack. He feared his girlfriend would lapse into a coma.

They discovered a trash bag and using DeGrace’s bra straps as shoe laces, Schroeder made snowshoes. He also used his girlfriend’s socks as gloves.

Schroeder walked through six miles of wilderness, searching for a cellphone signal.

“If I don’t get cell reception and it get’s dark, I’m frozen to death. Coyotes or whatever is going to take care of me,” he recalled.

After braving below freezing temperatures and howling wind, Schroeder climbed a peak and established reception.

The next voice he heard was a 911 operator followed soon by the bluster of a CHP helicopter.

“You never seen a guy cry to see a cell phone work,” Schroeder said. “I started crying because I knew we were going to be saved.”

He directed the chopper to his ailing girlfriend. “I knew he’d made it when I saw the helicopter,” DeGrace said. “Mark was OK.”

Schroeder and DeGrace were checked at a hospital and released. Neither of them suffered frostbite or any lasting injury.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Officers went to 1240 Camellia Drive after receiving a 911 call shortly before 8:30 a.m. from 33-year-old Natisha Anderson, who said she had “cut” her boyfriend, East Palo Alto Sgt. Jeff Liu said.

Arriving officers found the victim, 34-year-old Charles Perry, suffering from a stab wound to the leg, Liu said.

Anderson told officers at her home that she was responsible for cutting her boyfriend, who was the father of her 4-year-old son, Liu said.

Perry was taken to Stanford Hospital, where he succumbed to his wound, police said.

Anderson was arrested on suspicion of murder and booked into San Mateo County Jail.

The case remains under investigation.

Anderson will likely be arraigned in San Mateo County Superior Court by Thursday afternoon, according to the district attorney’s office.

Anyone who might have information on the case is urged to call East Palo police dispatch at (650) 321-1112. An anonymous voicemail can be left at (650) 409-6792.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)