Shannon Lee Edmonds, 35, and Melvin Dale Norton, 38, appeared Thursday afternoon before Judge Richard Martin in Lake County Superior Court.
The men are accused of murdering 25-year-old Shelby Uehling of Clearlake during a confrontation that occurred Tuesday morning in the area of Old Highway 53 and Clement Drive, according to investigators.
Clearlake Police Chief Allan McClain said Thursday that an autopsy conducted in Napa County the previous day showed that Uehling had been severely beaten, and suffered multiple stab wounds, including a 3-inch laceration to the neck that severed his carotid artery, a wound in the lower back that punctured his lung and a stab wound to the buttocks.
McClain said police have received information that the fight broke out over a dating relationship Uehling was supposed to have had with a woman Edmonds either had been dating or still was seeing.
He said police had no previous contacts with Uehling.
McClain said investigators have collected weapons in the case, including what they believe to be the murder weapon.
The initial case has been turned over the District Attorney's Office, said McClain. However, police investigators are still working on the evidence to tie the case together.
Edmonds and Norton each face a charge of homicide, with special allegations also filed against each man – use of a knife in Edmonds' case and in Norton's the alleged use of a billy club-type weapon.
Norton also is facing a charge of assault with a deadly weapon likely to cause great bodily injury, with a special allegation of inflicting great bodily injury, and another count of being an accessory.
In addition, Norton – who has an extensive criminal history, including past convictions for assault with great bodily injury, robbery, burglary and evading a police officer – is facing a strike enhancement, Martin said.
Edmonds and Norton sat side by side in the jury box, along with four other inmates, during the brief Thursday afternoon hearing.
Martin explained to them their rights and asked if they had any questions. “No, sir,” said Edmonds, with Norton also adding, “No.”
Martin appointed attorneys to represent both men. Stephen Carter will defend Norton, while Doug Rhoades was assigned to Edmonds' case.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff appeared on behalf of the prosecution Thursday. He assisted Clearlake Police with the investigation as it got under way earlier this week.
“What's your position on bail, Mr. Hinchcliff?” Martin asked.
Hinchcliff asked Martin to keep the bail for each of the men at $1 million.
On Tuesday, Hinchcliff and Clearlake Police officials went to Judge Stephen Hedstrom, who approved their motion for a bail enhancement, raising it to $1 million for each man. Hinchcliff told Lake County News that bail for homicide normally is set at $500,000.
“I'm going to leave that in the amount set by Judge Hedstrom,” said Martin. “He had more facts that I have.”
The men will return to court, this time for an appearance in the court's Clear Lake division, for another hearing Friday afternoon.
Hinchcliff said after court that Edmonds is facing 26 years to life if convicted, while Norton is facing 52 years to life should he be tried and found guilty of all charges.
Edmonds' Clearlake Park home was alleged to have been broken into by three Bay Area men, Rashad Williams, Christian Foster and Renato Hughes, in December of 2005, as Lake County News has reported.
During the incident Dale Lafferty, the son of Edmonds' then-girlfriend Lori Tyler, was beaten nearly to death with a bat.
Edmonds fatally shot Williams and Foster as they ran from the home. He wasn't prosecuted, but Hughes was charged with his friends' deaths under the provocative act law, which allows anyone alleged to have been involved in a crime that could result in a lethal response to be charged with any resulting deaths.
Carter had worked on Hughes' defense in those early legal proceedings, and early on Rhoades represented Edmonds as his Fifth Amendment counsel in that case.
In this current case, Rhoades and Carter weren't prepared to offer comment on Thursday.
Although Edmonds had been an important prosecution witness in the Hughes trial, District Attorney Jon Hopkins said that doesn't present a situation where his office must recuse itself in the Uehling murder.
“Since we do not represent them as their attorney, but represent the People of the community, there is no conflict in continuing to represent the People regardless of whether a person changes roles as witness, victim or defendant,” Hopkins said in an e-mail message to Lake County News.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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