CLEARLAKE – An appellate court has turned down a Clearlake man's appeal of his conviction for shooting a Clearlake couple in October of 2006.

The First Appellate Court's decision, filed Monday, affirmed the conviction and sentencing of Ronell Lee Isaac, 35.

In May of 2008 a jury convicted Isaac of two counts of attempted voluntary manslaughter, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, and special allegations of personal use of a firearm and causing great bodily injury to the victims, as Lake County News has reported. It also was found that he had a prior prison term for drug possession with a firearm enhancement.

Due to the aggravating circumstances of the crimes, Judge Richard Martin sentenced Isaac to the maximum sentence of 25 years and six months in prison in June of 2008.

On Oct. 12, 2006, Isaac spotted the couple driving by his apartment building to pick up their children from preschool and began following them by car.

Having had confrontations with him before, the couple pulled over in front of the American Legion Hall to see what he wanted, and found him holding a gun.

Isaac reportedly said, “Say something now,” then shot both of them multiple times.

The woman sustained a gunshot wound that injured her liver and the male – shot from behind as he attempted to get away from Isaac – was wounded in the stomach, hand, buttocks and knee.

Following the shooting, Isaac fled to Nevada County where he was arrested in December of 2006.

In an 11-page unpublished opinion, the justices disagreed with Isaac's contention that he was denied his right to trial by jury based on the factor used to impose upper terms on the firearms enhancements.

They also didn't agree that the trial court erred in using the same facts to give him a consecutive term on the second attempted voluntary manslaughter count or the upper term on the associated gun enhancement.

The justices noted that the trial court recited “a substantial catalogue of aggravating considerations” in choosing the upper term for the fire arm enhancements.

In assessing Martin's sentencing choices, the appellate court concluded, “We think the trial court was motivated by a calmly considered need to provide a sentence as long as possible for a man with a substantial record of past criminal behavior who had perpetrated the present appalling offenses. Any failure to assign the large number of aggravating circumstances with artful precision neither prejudices the defendant nor vitiates the sentence.”

Isaac won't be eligible for parole until 2028.

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