Dani Simpson Burch. Photo courtesy of Jerri-Jo Idarius.

LAKEPORT – Lakeport Police on Thursday confirmed the identity of a woman found dead in her home the previous day.

Police found the body of Dani Simpson Burch, 65, along with that of her small dog inside her home at 60 Lily Cove Ave. shortly after 7 p.m. Wednesday, according to a statement issued by Lakeport Police Sgt. Kevin Odom Thursday evening.

As Lake County News first reported Thursday, officers responded to the home Wednesday night after receiving a request for a welfare check at that address.

Lakeport Fire Department personnel also responded to the address, where they confirmed Burch was deceased, according to Lakeport Police.

Initially, information police discovered at the scene appeared to indicate the death was a possible suicide, according to Odom's report.

However, upon further investigation, police reported discovering inconsistencies that raised questions regarding the death.

Based on those findings, Lakeport Police obtained a search warrant for the residence, where they reported recovering several items which may help determine what happened to Burch.

A Lake County Sheriff's deputy-coroner was dispatched to the scene to take part in the investigation, said Odom.

Early Thursday morning, while officers were on the scene, Dani Burch's son, 41-year-old Jeffrey Simpson, arrived at the home he reportedly shared with his mother.

Simpson was driving a rental car with a crumpled front end and deployed air bags, according to Harold LaBonte, Lake County News correspondent and photographer.

At some point after Simpson arrived at the scene, he attempted to attack LaBonte and was wrestled to the ground by police officers.

Sgt. Jason Ferguson arrested Simpson, who was booked Thursday afternoon into the Lake County Jail on a felony charge of threatening to commit a crime with the intent to terrorize and misdemeanor battery on a person. Bail was set at $101,000.

Simpson had been arrested on Dec. 18 by the California Highway Patrol for several drug charges, according to Lake County Jail records.

Burch's body was removed from the scene shortly before 8 a.m. Thursday, according to LaBonte.

Odom reported that an autopsy to determine the cause of death will be conducted in the near future.

Burch, who formerly lived in Potter Valley according to address records, was an artist whose work had been shown at Lakeport's Main Street Gallery, according to the Lake County Arts Council. Her work also had been featured by Mendocino County galleries and publications.

The investigation into Burch's death is continuing, according to Odom's report. Anyone with information related to the incident should call Lakeport Police Detective Norm Taylor at 707-263-9653.

Harold LaBonte contributed to this report.

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The home of Dani Burch at 60 Lily Cove Ave. in Lakeport became a crime scene Wednesday night, after police found the bodies of a woman and a small dog inside the home. Photo by Harold LaBonte.

LAKEPORT – A welfare check turned into a death investigation at a downtown Lakeport home Wednesday night, with police reporting “unusual” circumstances surrounding the discovery of a woman's body.

Lakeport Police received a call requesting a welfare check at 60 Lily Cove Ave. at about 7:45 p.m., according to Lt. Brad Rasmussen.

“Officers investigated and located a deceased person at the residence,” said Rasmussen.

Rasmussen added, “I can say it appears to be a resident of the home.”

The home's resident is local artist Dani S. Burch, according to a directory search.

An officer at the scene confirmed that the bodies of a woman and her small dog had been found inside the house. He would not speculate about how long the woman had been dead, and police did not release her identity.

At about 9:45 p.m. officers put up tape around the home's exterior, with a Lakeport Police officer confirming that it had become a crime scene.

“We do have some unusual circumstances that we've discovered,” Rasmussen said just after 10:30 p.m.

He added, “I can't get into any details on what those circumstances are at this time.”

Rasmussen said four Lakeport Police personnel – among them Detective Norm Taylor – were at the home, processing the scene and evidence. A coroner from the Lake County Sheriff's Office later arrived at the residence.

“We're going to be on scene for an extended period of time, doing a thorough investigation to try to determine the cause what happened at the scene,” said Rasmussen.

Rasmussen said police would make an announcement about their findings as soon as they could.

Harold LaBonte contributed to this report.

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Police used Tasers on four individuals on Dec. 23, Lt. Mike Hermann of Clearlake Police reported Thursday.

Hermann said all four incidents were separate, involving three people who were intoxicated and one with an arrest warrant from another county.

“Unfortunately, everybody wanted to fight that day,” Hermann told Lake County News, with officers encountering belligerent and intoxicated individuals from one call to the next.

None of the suspects or officers were injured to the point of needing medical treatment, said Hermann. All of the arrestees received a medical clearance, which is standard procedure after a Taser is applied, he added.

The first Taser incident involved 48-year-old Chris Clinton Neely, wanted in Marin County on an arrest warrant, said Hermann.

Police went to Neely's home in an attempt to arrest him on the warrant, Hermann reported. Neely attempted to run away and started climbing a fence. He reportedly refused to obey police orders, so they used a Taser on him and took him into custody without further incident.

Hermann said police officers searched Neely after his arrest, finding him in possession of the painkiller Oxycontin but without a prescription.

Neely, a drywall installer, was booked into the Lake County Jail on the $150,000 felony arrest warrant, felony possession of a controlled substance and resisting arrest, according to jail records. He remains in custody with bail set at $170,000.

Following the Neely arrest, police were next called to the Jackson Street home of 33-year-old Scott Lamarr Sullivan's parents, said Hermann.

Sullivan was intoxicated and causing a problem at the residence, Hermann reported. When officers arrived Sullivan came outside and continued to act up, at which time officers attempted to arrest him for public intoxication.

Sullivan continued to fight, so police used the Taser and arrested him without further incident, said Hermann.

Police took Sullivan, a store stocker who lives in Lucerne, to the Lake County Jail, where he was booked on misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest and public intoxication, according to jail records. He has since been released.

The third person who came into contact with a Taser Sunday was Pegeen Anne Magoon, a 43-year-old In-Home Supportive Services worker from Clearlake Park, said Hermann.

Magoon had been reported as intoxicated and lying in the middle of the road near Sixth Street and Oak in the Clearlake Park area, according to Hermann. When Clearlake Police officers arrived, they found Magoon walking out of some nearby bushes.

Herman said Magoon – who is on active parole with a "no alcohol" clause – was found to be in possession of several cans of alcohol, and police determined she was too intoxicated to properly care for herself.

Police Officer Rodd Joseph arrested Magoon for public intoxication and placed her in the backseat of his patrol vehicle, said Hermann. While en route to the police station, Magoon began yelling and screaming to the point that Joseph had to pull his patrol car over.

Hermann said she continued screaming, and got onto her back across the rear seat and began kicking the side doors and windows in a violent fashion – even reportedly trying to kick Joseph several times when he tried to get her to stop.

Joseph deployed the Taser on Magoon who, after the Taser's five-second cycle ran, immediately began kicking at the window again in an attempt to break it out, said Hermann. Joseph fired the Taser a second time and Magoon was hit with another five-second cycle, after which she stopped trying to kick out the window.

Another officer arrived on scene and helped Joseph resituate Magoon in the backseat of the patrol vehicle, said Hermann. Joseph then drove her to Redbud Hospital where she received a medical clearance.

Magoon was then transported to the county jail where she was eventually booked for misdemeanor counts of public intoxication and resisting arrest, and felony violation of parole. Magoon remains in jail on a no-bail hold for the felony parole violation.

The last person to be the subject of Taser use was 34-year-old Alisa Renee Anders of Clearlake, said Hermann.

Anders, Hermann reported, was intoxicated and trying to get into a residence where she didn't live. When officers arrived, Anders was unable to tell them where she actually lived and was determined to be too intoxicated to properly care for herself.

Hermann said while Anders was speaking with officers she became belligerent and refused to listen. When they attempted to arrest her for public intoxication she began pulling away and fighting.

Officers took Anders to the ground where she continued fighting and screaming and, at one point, struck one of the officers, Hermann reported.

Because Anders continued to fight officers used the "drive stun" mode of the Taser (with the darts removed) and applied it several times to get Anders to stop fighting, Hermann said.

Anders was finally restrained in handcuffs and transported to the Redbud Hospital where she received a medical clearance, Hermann reported.

Police then transported Anders, who works as a waitress, to the county jail, where she was booked on misdemeanor counts of public intoxication and resisting arrest, with bail set at $5,000. Anders remained in custody Thursday.

Police: Use of Tasers avoids injury

All of Clearlake Police's officers – including 13 assigned to patrol, five sergeants, one detective and two lieutenants – are outfitted with Tasers, Hermann said.

Each officer carries the X26 model, said Hermann. That same model is carried by both Lakeport Police and Lake County Sheriff's deputies.

Taser International reports that the X26 is its premier model for law enforcement, costing about $1,000 each. The X26 shoots two small probes attached to insulated wires that transmit voltage as as far as 35 feet.

According to Taser, the X26 can deliver up to 50,000 volts, but on average only uses about 1,200 volts in a cycle. Each probe can penetrate up to 1 inch of clothing.

Hermann said the department is encouraging officers to use Tasers rather than get into struggles with suspects, because it saves both suspects and officers from injury.

Taser usage is more common on certain subjects, said Hermann.

“Most of the time it is somebody who is under the influence. They're more apt to fight,” he said, which makes other law enforcement tools “not as productive.”

Activist groups have lobbied against Taser usage in recent years after people who were hit by the devices died.

In 2004, 41-year-old Clearlake resident Keith Drum died after Clearlake Police used a Taser on him while trying to apprehend him during a violent struggle. A medical examiner found that he died due to cardiac arrest, methamphetamine intoxication and other factors, including blunt force trauma.

A District Attorney's Office investigation released in 2005 concluded that Clearlake Police were not guilty of wrongdoing in the case. However, an in-depth article on the Drum case written in 2005 by Philip Murphy questioned those findings and the police's use of force on Drum.

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Lake County Guns on South Main Street was burglarized sometime between 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Lt. Brad Rasmussen said Thursday.

Rasmussen said that four .22-caliber rifles were taken from the store.

The burglars smashed out a portion of the front window and took the guns from a nearby gun rack, Rasmussen said.

Last week there was an attempted burglary at another business in the small commercial complex in the 400 block of South Main Street where Lake County Guns is located, said Rasmussen.

“There were some similarities seen between both of them so we're investigating the possibility that they are related,” said Rasmussen. “We don't know for sure. But there is evidence that indicates that they were.”

Commercial burglaries aren't common in Lakeport, said Rasmussen. The most recent took place in October, when Express Mart, Dream Machine Customs and West Lake Auto were hit, but the cases weren't related, Rasmussen said.

At Express Mart, the thieves got in through a window, while at Dream Machine Customs the burglars gained access through the door, said Rasmussen. Arrests were made in those cases.

In the fall of 2002, there were several commercial burglaries in the city in which locks were forced. The burglaries took place shortly before the murder of Barbara LaForge. Police reported that those crimes were not related.

The last significant series of commercial burglaries took place in 2000, said Rasmussen. The suspect ultimately hit 17 businesses, and was arrested while committing a burglary in San Mateo. The man was later sentenced to prison.

Rasmussen said he hasn't observed a pattern of stolen firearms in Lake County.

When guns are stolen, they tend to be sold for much less than their value. Guns must be registered and transferred through a licensed gun dealer, said Rasmussen. The gun shop's owner, Clifton Rakic, told Lake County News on Wednesday that the rifles were valued at about $100 each.

The state runs an automated listing of stolen firearms as well as a database of stolen property, said Rasmussen. If the guns are later recovered by law enforcement, they would be identified through that system and Lakeport Police would be notified.

More than 10 years ago, a Coast to Coast store that used to be located near the current location of Grocery Outlet, at the corner of Lakeport Boulevard and South Main Street, was burglarized, and dozens of guns were taken, said Rasmussen.

Lakeport Police have continued to receive reports of the guns taken in that burglary being found in various locations, including the Bay Area, where they either were used in crimes or found during police searches of vehicles, said Rasmussen.

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In February 2006 David Garlow Deason, 68, was convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting death of 48-year-old Marie Parlet, according to court records.

Judge Richard Martin sentenced Deason to 50 years to life in state prison for the murder, which court records state occurred on Dec. 6, 2004.

The couple reportedly had a disagreement earlier on the day of the murder, according to court documents. Deason left the mobile home they shared and returned later that evening, intoxicated, after which he shot Parlet once in the chest and once in the back, from a distance of about 18 inches.

Deason, whose blood-alcohol was reported in court documents as 0.27 – 0.08 is considered legally drunk for driving purposes – admitted to sheriff's deputies that he shot Parlet.

However, on Dec. 14 the state's First Appellate District Court overturned Deason's conviction, ruling that the trial court “erred in excluding evidence of his intoxication.”

The appellate court also faulted the trial court for not instructing the jury that it could consider his intoxication in deciding whether Parlet's murder was deliberate or premeditated.

Martin, according to court records, ruled that no evidence of Deason's alcohol consumption could be presented.

During the trial Deason's defense attorney, J. David Markham, asked Judge Martin to allow him to call a toxicologist, who Markham said would explain that Deason would have consumed as many as 14 drinks to reach the level of intoxication he had on the night of the murder.

The prosecution, Markham said in court transcripts, was allowed to prove that Deason “wasn't intoxicated or under the influence of any alcohol that day” because no conflicting evidence was allowed.

Martin denied the request for the toxicologist, although Markham later attempted once again to have the information admitted by requesting that the jury consider the intoxication issue during deliberation.

Markham argued that the role of alcohol was important in determining whether or not Deason acted with premeditation, a necessary element of the first-degree murder charge. Court records showed that Martin turned down that request as well.

The appellate court found that the evidence of Deason's alcohol consumption was critical to the issues of premeditation and deliberation, and that the trial court “abused its discretion” by preventing that evidence from being admitted.

That error, the justices wrote, was compounded by the trial court's refusal to give the jury instructions that Markham requested.

Further, the appellate court found that the prosecution “presented relatively weak evidence of premeditation.”

In the face of that weak premeditation evidence, the appellate court wrote that evidence of intoxication – specifically, that Deason had a blood alcohol level of 0.27 an hour and a half after his arrest – became even more important.

“... It is hard to imagine any reasonable jury which would not assign significant weight to evidence indicating this massive level of intoxication on the part of the defendant within an hour and a half of the shooting – especially if they had been instructed, as defendant requested – that they could consider such evidence in deciding whether the defendant acted with an intent to kill, or acted with deliberation and premeditation,” the appellate court decision states.

Those factors were critical to the central issue in the case, according to the court – “whether the defendant was guilty of murder in the first degree, or only of a lesser level of homicide.”

The argument of prosecutor John Langan that there was “scant evidence of drinking and no evidence tying it to appellant's mental state” further tipped the scales toward a finding of prejudice against Deason, the court decided.

“The missing evidence, the missing instruction, literally stripped the appellant of a potential defense to the charge of first-degree murder,” the court wrote. “The prosecutor knew it, and hammered the point home to the jury.”

The appellate court's conclusion is that, without the court's errors, Deason would have had a better outcome to his trial. The court therefore reversed the judgment against Deason.

Deason also had filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, which is a prisoner's way of objecting to his or imprisonment based on factual or legal issues, according to LectLaw.com. That petition was dismissed as moot in light of the reversal on Dec. 14.

There is no word yet on whether or not Deason will receive a new trial or if he has actually been released from prison.

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Lake County Redevelopment Agency and Lake County Sheriff Rod Mitchell took to the board a proposed option agreement to purchase two parcels – one vacant and one with a building that formerly housed a real estate office – that will be the site of the new substation.

The parcels, owned by May Noble, are located at 6222 and 6224 E. Highway 20. The asking price is $300,000, which Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Cox's report to the board notes is $41,000 below the appraised value.

Redevelopment funds will pay for half of the funding, while Mitchell pledged to provide the second half from the Rural and Small Counties Sheriff's subvention program. That state program gives Lake County $500,000 annually.

This year's final county budget hearings included money in the Redevelopment Agency budget to rent office space in Lucerne – the center of the agency's project area – for the sheriff's substation, Cox's report noted.

“We were thinking of just renting a building to begin with,” Cox said.

As the agency searched for a building to rent, Cox reported that they discovered Noble had the property for sale.

The location is a good one for a variety of reasons, said Cox, including its highly visible location on the highway, the Lucerne Firehouse's presence next door and the fact that it's situated directly across the highway from Lucerne Harbor Park, which Cox noted is “heavily used.”

The two parcels are offered as a package deal, said Cox. The vacant parcel could be used for extra parking for the public; Deputy Redevelopment Director Eric Seely noted that the lot with the building only has four parking spaces.

Mitchell didn't come to the beginning of the discussion; Board Chair Jeff Smith said he had told the sheriff that he needn't come for the item. However, with the board asking more questions, Mitchell was called and asked to come and share more details.

Necessity and a desire for greater efficiency have led Mitchell to begin dividing the county into service regions. “The intention is to establish three operational areas,” said Mitchell.

Those are Region 1, serving Middletown, Cobb and Lower Lake; Region 2, which includes the Highway 20 corridor; and Region 3, the greater Lakeport area.

Mitchell said he wants to have an operations base in Middletown that will be staffed by sheriff's personnel and volunteers, with a lieutenant assigned to oversee operations.

The substations planned for Lucerne and Middletown will help the department decentralize, which is important for another reason, said Mitchell. “The fact is, we’ve outgrown the main office.”

The space crunch is further increased by the fact that the sheriff's office is due to lose is Lower Lake substation because the courts require a holding area, Mitchell reported.

The Lucerne substation, said Mitchell, also would be optimally located at the Noble property because of his desire to have a boat patrol location there, which the park's close proximity makes possible.

Mitchell said he already would have created a Middletown substation had he been able to do so.

“If I could snap my fingers that would be the first place I would establish it,” said Mitchell, based on the development and growth in the area. “The second would be on the Northshore.”

Cox said the Middletown substation is included in the town's library project.

In the Lucerne substation's case, Cox said the Redevelopment Agency's ability to help – its funding can be used for policing, he said – has pushed that project to the front.

Smith said he initially had misgivings about the proposed purchase. He said he wondered if a better location wouldn't be Clearlake Oaks.

The board eventually agreed that the property's proximity to the park and the firehouse made it a good choice.

Supervisor Denise Rushing moved to approve the option agreement, which the board approved unanimously. The agreement runs out Jan. 15, 2008.

Mitchell told Lake County News Tuesday afternoon that he plans to use the building with some modifications.

“The staffing portion will not be happening immediately but it is not too far off,” he said. “I do intend to have a staff level officer oversee the services in each region and the Lucerne station would be one of them.”

He added, “I appreciate the board's support of this because I genuinely believe that this will be good for the entire Highway 20 corridor. Mostly, I am grateful to Kelly Cox for his support and to Eric Seely for his work and of course, May Noble for her generosity. That is a big deal to us.”

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