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Robert Salonga (@robertsalonga) profile picture

Robert Salonga

@robertsalonga

Criminal justice, @mercnews. Prior: @eastbaytimes. @UCLA/@merrillcollege. Partial @PulitzerPrizes possessor. [email protected], on Signal, DMs open

 San Jose, Oakland
mercurynews.com
Joined August 2009
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Photo by Robert Salonga (@robertsalonga)Photo by Robert Salonga (@robertsalonga)Photo by Robert Salonga (@robertsalonga)Photo by Robert Salonga (@robertsalonga)Photo by Robert Salonga (@robertsalonga)Photo by Robert Salonga (@robertsalonga)Photo by Robert Salonga (@robertsalonga)Photo by Robert Salonga (@robertsalonga)Photo by Robert Salonga (@robertsalonga)Photo by Robert Salonga (@robertsalonga)
To commemorate the @EastBayTimes and @mercnews getting our @PulitzerPrize certificate at @Columbia, here's the #Pulitzer title belt I made.
Image from Robert Salonga (@robertsalonga)
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Judge tosses domestic violence conviction for San Jose pastor, grants new trial mercurynews.com/2026/11/06/j… @mercnews
Judge tosses domestic violence conviction for San Jose pastor, grants new trial

Judge tosses domestic violence conviction for San Jose pastor, grants new trial

Rev. Ray Montgomery successfully argued that jurors got incomplete instructions about trespassing law when deciding his guilt in a 2024 misdemeanor assault case involving his then-girlfriend.

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Sierra LaMar retrial: Family testifies about teen’s disappearance mercurynews.com/2026/11/06/s… @mercnews @juliasulek
Sierra LaMar retrial: Family testifies about teen’s disappearance

Sierra LaMar retrial: Family testifies about teen’s disappearance

Sierra’s mother and sister were among several witnesses to assert that the 15-year-old had neither the means nor desire to leave home when she vanished in 2012.

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Court strikes murder charge for drug dealer linked to San Jose baby fentanyl deaths mercurynews.com/2026/11/04/c… @mercnews
Court strikes murder charge for drug dealer linked to San Jose baby fentanyl deaths

Court strikes murder charge for drug dealer linked to San Jose baby fentanyl deaths

The 6th District Court of Appeal says prosecutors overreached by charging Phillip Ortega with murder for supplying drugs to the parents of Baby Winter

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Robert Salonga retweeted
Mercury News (@mercnews) profile picture
Mercury News@mercnewsNov 3
A Santa Clara County Sheriff’s sergeant recounts being the first police officer called to respond to the feared disappearance, as the defense insinuates authorities overlooked a potential crime scene. mercurynews.com/2026/11/03/s…
Sierra LaMar retrial: Opening testimony covers initial 2012 search for missing girl

Sierra LaMar retrial: Opening testimony covers initial 2012 search for missing girl

A Santa Clara County Sheriff’s sergeant recounts being the first police officer called to respond to the feared disappearance, as the defense insinuates authorities overlooked a potential crime scene.

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NOW: Retrial for 2012 Sierra LaMar disappearance gets underway mercurynews.com/2026/11/02/r… @mercnews
Retrial for 2012 Sierra LaMar disappearance gets underway

Retrial for 2012 Sierra LaMar disappearance gets underway

Opening statements kick off the second murder trial for Antolin Garcia Torres following his conviction reversal earlier this year.

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Robert Salonga retweeted
Mercury News (@mercnews) profile picture
Mercury News@mercnewsOct 30
Two women have been booked on suspicion of the fatal stabbing. mercurynews.com/2026/10/30/l…
Body dump near Livermore leads to San Jose murder arrests

Body dump near Livermore leads to San Jose murder arrests

The man was last seen alive near the apartment complex where one suspect lived.

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UPDATE | ‘You will get caught’: Officer’s SJPD girlfriend, also arrested, claims to have warned him against alleged tampering scheme to confiscate drugs from second person to pass off as evidence he lost from earlier arrest
Robert Salonga (@robertsalonga) profile pictureRobert Salonga@robertsalongaOct 29
NEW: San Jose cop charged with swapping drugs to cover up botched evidence handling mercurynews.com/2026/10/29/s… @mercnews
San Jose cop charged with swapping drugs to cover up botched evidence handling

San Jose cop charged with swapping drugs to cover up botched evidence handling

The officer’s SJPD girlfriend, also arrested, claims to have warned him against the alleged tampering scheme to confiscate drugs from a second person to pass off as evidence he lost from an earlier...

mercurynews.com
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NEW: San Jose cop charged with swapping drugs to cover up botched evidence handling mercurynews.com/2026/10/29/s… @mercnews
San Jose cop charged with swapping drugs to cover up botched evidence handling

San Jose cop charged with swapping drugs to cover up botched evidence handling

The officer’s SJPD girlfriend, also arrested, claims to have warned him against the alleged tampering scheme to confiscate drugs from a second person to pass off as evidence he lost from an earlier...

mercurynews.com
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Court reverses San Jose murder convictions over prosecutor's pit bull analogy, 'predator' language mercurynews.com/2026/10/28/c… @mercnews
Court reverses San Jose murder convictions over prosecutor’s pit bull analogy, ‘predator’ language

Court reverses San Jose murder convictions over prosecutor’s pit bull analogy, ‘predator’ language

6th District appellate justices ruled that a dog reference during jury selection and additional animal comparisons tainted the 2022 trial against three Black and Latino defendants in a drug deal...

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Court reverses San Jose robbery conviction over warrantless cell phone tracking mercurynews.com/2026/10/23/c… @mercnews
Court reverses San Jose robbery conviction over warrantless cell phone tracking

Court reverses San Jose robbery conviction over warrantless cell phone tracking

Appellate judges rejected a police urgency claim for an emergency Verizon request in their 2022 pursuit of a man they were already surveilling.

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Flock breach, rise in public complaints top San Jose police audit report mercurynews.com/2026/10/22/f… @mercnews
Flock breach, rise in public complaints top San Jose police audit report

Flock breach, rise in public complaints top San Jose police audit report

The city’s civilian watchdog is pushing for sharper department policies and speedier access to investigations in its review of 2025 police complaints.

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Robert Salonga retweeted
Mercury News (@mercnews) profile picture
Mercury News@mercnewsOct 22
Bradley Dexter was convicted of murder in July in his mother’s 2023 death amid an apparent inheritance dispute and a psychiatric crisis. mercurynews.com/2026/10/22/s…
San Jose man gets 25 years to life for poisoning mother’s milk with fentanyl

San Jose man gets 25 years to life for poisoning mother’s milk with fentanyl

Bradley Dexter was convicted of murder in July in his mother’s 2023 death amid an apparent inheritance dispute and a psychiatric crisis.

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Retrial for Sierra LaMar disappearance now aims for November start mercurynews.com/2026/10/16/r… @mercnews

Retrial for Sierra LaMar disappearance now aims for November start

With jury selection still ongoing, opening statements are prospectively set for Nov. 2, pushing back the original timeline projection by a month.

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Robert Salonga retweeted
Nate Gartrell (@NateGartrell) profile picture
Nate Gartrell@NateGartrellOct 14
#NEW: A judge has sealed off the ENTIRE case file involving the killing of Jonathan McKinsey in Dublin, including the sealing order itself. It's a near-unheard of deviation from the presumptive public access for criminal proceedings: mercurynews.com/2026/10/14/a…
Secret order blocks public access to case against East Bay couple charged in son-in-law’s killing

Secret order blocks public access to case against East Bay couple charged in son-in-law’s killing

A judge has cut off the public from every court record in the killing of Jonathan McKinsey in Dublin, a move decried as “pretty clearly unconstitutional” by the First Amendment Coalition’s legal...

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Chief says fatal San Jose police shooting involved armed threats from landlord mercurynews.com/2026/10/13/c… @mercnews
Chief says fatal San Jose police shooting involved armed threats from landlord

Chief says fatal San Jose police shooting involved armed threats from landlord

The Sunday night shooting unfolded after multiple reports of a landlord menacing his tenants with firearms, police say.

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NEW: Mother, stepfather arrested in alleged neglect death of 8-year-old San Jose girl mercurynews.com/2026/10/13/m… @juliasulek @mercnews
San Jose couple arrested in 8-year-old daughter’s asthma death

San Jose couple arrested in 8-year-old daughter’s asthma death

Gabrielle Hanson and Jacob Randolph were arrested Monday in connection with the fatal asthma attack in May of Aurora Williams. Hanson’s brother, Jonathan, was also arrested and charged with sexual...

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Friday A1 good news feature: They walked into a San Jose courtroom. Then hundreds of students followed. How a group of curious South Bay high school students founded a court watching nonprofit that has spread across the country mercurynews.com/2026/10/09/s… @mercnews
They walked into a San Jose courtroom. Then hundreds of students followed.

They walked into a San Jose courtroom. Then hundreds of students followed.

Four South Bay high school students turned their first courtroom visits into Justice For All, a program that helps young people observe public court proceedings.

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NEW: Attorney raises competency doubt for Milpitas woman charged with killing best friends mercurynews.com/2026/10/08/a… @mercnews
Attorney raises competency doubt for South Bay woman charged with killing her two best friends

Attorney raises competency doubt for South Bay woman charged with killing her two best friends

The prosecution of Anila Baby is suspended pending the selection of court-appointed doctors and a likely months-long mental evaluation process.

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NEW: Man sentenced to 50 years to life for shooting Mountain View police officer in 2022 DUI stop mercurynews.com/2026/10/07/m… @mercnews
Man sentenced to 50 years to life for shooting Mountain View police officer in 2022 DUI stop

Man sentenced to 50 years to life for shooting Mountain View police officer in 2022 DUI stop

Jeffrey Thomas Choy was convicted in May of an ambush in which he shot and wounded an officer at point-blank range and spent a day at large before his arrest.

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NEW: Murder charge for Morgan Hill man who brought dead wife to hospital with kids back at home mercurynews.com/2026/10/07/m… @mercnews
Murder charge for Morgan Hill man who allegedly beat wife until she was ‘unrecognizable’ with kids...

Murder charge for Morgan Hill man who allegedly beat wife until she was ‘unrecognizable’ with kids...

Roy Anthony Lopez is accused of fatally beating his wife then confessing at a San Jose hospital, all while their young kids were home.

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