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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Lakeport man facing allegations of sexual abuse of a minor was in court for arraignment on Tuesday.
David Edward Carr, 50, was in Judge Andrew Blum's courtroom Tuesday afternoon.
Carr was arrested by a Lake County Sheriff's deputy last Saturday, Jan. 5, on several felony charges, among them rape, incest and sodomy, according to his booking sheet.
However, Deputy District Attorney Ed Borg said the only charge against Carr now is continuous sexual abuse of a child under age 14.
Borg would offer only limited details about Carr's case, now in its early stages, out of fairness considerations.
He said the charge was for one young victim, and revolved around acts which allegedly began in 2006 and continued until 2010.
The District Attorney's Office reported that, if convicted, Carr could face 16 years in prison.
Carr is being held in the Lake County Jail on $750,000 bail.
On Tuesday, Blum chose to leave Carr's bail at that enhanced amount.
Blum set Carr's next court appearance for 8:15 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 15, before Judge Richard Martin.
Attorney Doug Rhoades was appointed Tuesday to represent Carr in his case.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A man convicted last month of the roadside murders of a Maine couple was sentenced to two life terms on Tuesday.
Judge Andrew Blum sentenced 32-year-old Robby Alan Beasley to two life terms without the possibility of parole for the Jan. 22, 2010, shooting deaths of Frank Maddox, 32, and his wife Yvette, 40, of Augusta, Maine.
A jury convicted Beasley on Dec. 13 of two counts of first degree murder, being a felon in possession of a firearm, special allegations of committing multiple murders, personally inflicting great bodily injury on the couple and personal use of a firearm to commit the murders.
He was accused of killing the couple on the side of Morgan Valley Road near Lower Lake, believing they had stolen three pounds of marijuana from his apartment.
Beasley, originally from Maine, had brought the couple from the East Coast to work for him in his marijuana business.
Before he was sentenced, Beasley's attorney, Stephen Carter, said his client wished to make a statement to the court.
“I want to say a few things,” said Beasley, wearing a red and white Lake County Jail jumpsuit and sitting next to Carter at the defense table.
Beasley thanked Blum for a fair trial and Carter for representing him. Then he turned his comments toward his former codefendant in the case, 30-year-old Elijah Bae McKay.
McKay, who had known Beasley while growing up in Maine, had helped Beasley get started in marijuana growing in Lake County, and testified against him at his trial.
McKay had told the court that he had loaned Beasley a 9 millimeter pistol that was used to shoot the Maddoxes to death and had helped Beasley dispose of evidence afterward.
“Elijah McKay is a pathological liar,” Beasley said.
Beasley said that McKay lied about giving him the 9 millimeter handgun, and that McKay had not had the gun at his house but kept it in his marijuana garden, which conflicted with McKay's statements on the stand.
McKay's statement that there had been a birthday cake at his brother's birthday party on the night of the murders, when McKay had said he had gone to pick up Beasley, also was a lie, Beasley maintained.
Facing pressure due to the potential for a prison sentence, as well as threats that his fiancee would be arrested and their young son taken into state custody, Beasley said McKay lied and was rewarded by the prosecution.
Beasley said he and McKay had been enemies throughout high school due to a fight between McKay and Beasley's younger brother.
In his written statement to the court, which was included in the Probation Department report, Beasley said he hadn't talked to McKay until 2005, when McKay came back to the East Coast for a visit. McKay, he said, was looking for a ride back to California and Beasley, who had been laid off, agreed to drive him.
Beasley said he returned home and it was in the summer of 2008 that McKay called him to ask for help, because his partner in the marijuana business had been arrested. Beasley said his probation with the state of Maine was violated after that point.
In court on Tuesday, Beasley accused McKay of fabricating a conversation he testified that the two of them had on Jan. 20, 2010, in which they discussed scaring the Maddoxes rather than Beasley killing them.
Addressing the prosecution, McKay said, “If you don't care about the truth, who does? Because Elijah McKay lied to everybody.”
He insisted McKay was a sociopath who can't tell the truth. “The truth is, I was wrongly convicted based on lies and manipulation, not truth and facts,” said Beasley.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Art Grothe said the Probation Department's report – which proposed the sentence Blum ultimately delivered – “adequately and thoroughly covers” the case, and he agreed with its recommendations.
“Inasmuch as it's not sworn, I will choose not to address the defendant's statement,” Grothe said.
Blum found that there were no factors in mitigation in Beasley's case, as the crimes involved great violence, he had previous convictions and a prison term, his convictions had become increasingly violent and his past performance on parole or probation was not satisfactory.
Blum sentenced Beasley to a term of life without the possibility of parole for the murder of each of the Maddoxes, to be served consecutively.
The additional 23 years, which Beasley must serve first before beginning the life prison terms, was for the various enhancements for which he had been convicted. Beasley also was ordered to pay restitution and fines.
Carter filed an appeal of Beasley's conviction during the Tuesday afternoon sentencing.
Beasley had three other cases pending, two of them fugitive complaints from Maine. Grothe moved to dismiss all of those additional cases, suggesting that the state of Maine could work with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to determine how to proceed. Blum accepted the motion to dismiss.
The sentencing hearing took just under 20 minutes before Beasley was remanded into custody and taken from the courtroom.
No family members of the Maddoxes were present to deliver victim impact statements. Instead, such a statement from Frank Maddox's younger sister, Alicia, was included in the Probation Department report.
She wrote of her brother, “I know many people may not be able to see past the way his character has been painted, his history, or some activities that he may or may not have been engaged in, but I see him for who he really was. My Big Brother.”
She said her older brother was more involved than most brothers, “because he was always trying to fill our father's shoes.”
She added, “He was the lighthouse in our childhood when my father died, and again when our mother died when we were just reaching adulthood.”
He also supported her when the father of her three children died. “Frank was more than an ordinary guy, he was an extraordinary brother; he was my confidant, my hero, my best friend and the last family I had left in this world.”
She said he wasn't a saint, but neither was he “a devil, coward or bad man.” He leaves behind four children and five nieces and nephews, she said.
Frank Maddox came to California to start a new life, according to his sister. He grew up in the gardening business and believed he was going to have legitimate job. She said Beasley lured him and his wife to their deaths with lies.
Alicia Maddox told Lake County News that her family thanked all of those who put in the hard work to put Beasley away, and shared a video tribute she made for him, which can be seen below.
In her comments she addressed Beasley, stating, “you took the only family I had left in this world, and I wouldn't wish that upon anyone, but years will soon pass and you will find yourself without anyone you started your life with, friends and family will have to cope and move on without you. life will go on for them. And someday I hope you finally ask yourself if taking them from us was worth it, if your three pounds were worth three lives."
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
NORTH COAST, Calif. – The Western Air Defense Sector will conduct air defense exercise Felix Hawk over the Cloverdale area on Thursday, Jan. 10.
Felix Hawk is designed to test WADS’ intercept and identification procedures for a variety of scenarios involving possible hostile aircraft.
Residents in the Cloverdale and Garberville areas may observe F-16 aircraft, C-21, and Cessna 182 aircraft participating in the exercise between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.
These training flights are coordinated with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Continental U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command Region.
In the event of inclement weather the exercise will be canceled.
These exercises are carefully planned and closely controlled to ensure WADS’s rapid response capability.
WADS has conducted exercise flights of this nature throughout the western region since the start of Operation Noble Eagle, the command’s response to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
WADS and its eastern counterpart – Eastern Air Defense Sector in Rome, N.Y. – are part of the Continental U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command Region.
CONR, as the continental United States geographical component of the bi-national command NORAD, provides airspace surveillance and control, and directs air sovereignty activities for the CONUS region. CONR and its assigned Air Force assets throughout the country ensure air safety and security against potential air threats.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, NORAD fighters have responded to more than 5,000 possible air threats in the United States, Canada and Alaska, and have flown more than 62,500 sorties with the support of Airborne Warning and Control System and air-to-air-refueling aircraft.
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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – In response to an exposed legal anomaly and an outdated rape statute that resulted in an overturned rape conviction, Sen. Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Chair of the California Women's Caucus, introduced SB 59.
The bill is also co-authored by twelve other senators, including pro tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and public safety chair Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley).
“Rape is a violent crime that should be punished to the fullest extent of the law,” said Sen. Evans. “Justice cannot be conditioned on the victim’s marital status.”
Under an 1870s provision that upheld the rights of a married victim, but not those of others, the Second District Court of Appeal last week overturned the rape conviction of Julio Morales.
In 2009 Morales impersonated his female victim’s boyfriend in order to have sex with her while she was sleeping.
Because jury instruction was unclear and the current law only allows someone to be convicted of rape for impersonating a spouse, but is silent about the impersonation of other intimate partners, the conviction was overturned on the technicality.
SB 59 would amend Penal Code section 261(a)(5) by exchanging the word “spouse” for the term “sexually intimate partner.”
Doing so would expand the definition to include single individuals as well as domestic partners and other individuals currently excluded by “spouse”.
“This is about equality in the law. This is about justice for all. And it’s past time this legislative body correct an arcane law that could let a rapist go free on an outdated statue that provides neither,” Evans said.
Evans represents the Second Senatorial District, including all or portions of the counties of Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Marin and Sonoma.