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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT – As John McCoy lay dying from eight stab wounds in the early morning hours of May 4, he reportedly identified his attacker to Clearlake Police, who said they found the suspect at the scene, the bloody knife still in his hands.
After listening to testimony that included eyewitness accounts of the attack on McCoy, a jury on Wednesday morning found Andre Lafayette Stevens, 43, guilty of first-degree murder.
Deliberations weren't quick, however; Stevens' attorney, Jason Webster, said Tuesday that the jury went into deliberations on Thursday, but had Friday and Monday off before resuming Tuesday. At one point the jury asked for some testimony to be read back as it considered the case.
Attempts to reach Webster on Wednesday for comment on the guilty verdict were unsuccessful.
Deputy District Attorney John Langan reported that the jury handed down the first-degree murder verdict, with special allegations, at about 10 a.m. Tuesday.
Stevens had pleaded not guilty to the murder charge and the special allegation of using a knife in a June court appearance, despite having admitted during interviews with police that he stabbed McCoy, as Lake County News previously reported. Since his arrest he has remained in Lake County Jail on $1 million bail.
Langan said all of his testimony came from eyewitnesses, included the neighbors in the apartment complex who were calling police while McCoy was being stabbed.
Stevens' motive for the brutal crime appeared to be jealousy, according to Langan.
Two weeks before the stabbing, Stevens' girlfriend broke off their relationship and returned to the Midwest.
Not only did Stevens lose a relationship, Langan said he also lost a steady form of income. That's because his ex-girlfriend was an In-Home Supportive Services client, and he was her IHSS care provider.
Langan said the prosecution's theory was that Stevens stabbed 42-year-old John Rayford McCoy Jr. believing that McCoy and Stevens' ex-girlfriend had been in a romantic relationship.
The two men weren't unknown to each other, said Langan. McCoy, who police reported had only been in the Clearlake area about a month, had stayed at Stevens' home a few times before the murder, said Langan.
Early on May 4, the prosecution alleged that Stevens took a 12-inch military knife and stabbed McCoy eight times, twice in the heart, said Langan.
Witnesses testified that after stabbing McCoy, Stevens continued his assault, kicking McCoy as he died.
"It was just a brutal, brutal killing," said Langan.
Langan credited the neighbors at the apartment complex for their efforts to save McCoy by calling police to report the attack. Their testimony proved key to the trial, he added.
Police arrived within a minute of the 911 call being placed, said Langan. They were on scene so quickly, he said, that the neighbors were still on the phone with the 911 operator.
"The police got there with Mr. Stevens still holding the knife in his hands," said Langan.
McCoy, who was mortally wounded, died within minutes of Clearlake Police's arrival, said Langan. There was nothing officers could do because of the extent of his injuries.
Langan said Stevens waived time throughout the proceedings, which led to a very quick trial – it's been just over four months since McCoy's murder.
Stevens will return to court at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 5, when Judge Robert Crone – who is sitting in for Judge David Herrick – will pass sentence, said Langan.
The first-degree murder conviction carries a sentence of 25 years to life, said Langan.
Additional time will be added for three special allegations the jury found to be true, said Langan, including the fact that he used a knife in committing the murder of McCoy, which added another year to the sentence.
The second special allegation involved Stevens' conviction of a previous “strike” under California's Three Strikes Law for a 1990 robbery in Santa Clara County. That strike doubles Stevens' sentence to 50 years to life, said Langan.
Stevens also had previously been convicted of two counts of felony battery on a police officer in 1999, also in Santa Clara County, said Langan.
Although that conviction didn't count as a strike, it did provide another special allegation against Stevens. Langan said Stevens had been released from prison in August 2005 and, because he committed another crime within five years of the conclusion of a prison term, another year will be added to his sentence, Langan explained.
"What it means is Mr. Stevens will likely have to serve 52 years until he's eligible for parole," said Langan.
Based on the sentencing guidelines, Stevens would be 95 years old before he would become eligible for parole.
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BARTLETT SPRINGS – In yet another blow to Lake County's historical buildings, a Tuesday fire claimed the Bartlett Springs Resort gazebo and another building on the remote site of the once-famed resort.
Mendocino National Forest officials reported Wednesday that the buildings were destroyed in a 50-acre wildland fire that broke out on private property.
Forest spokesperson Phebe Brown reported that the fire was located on Forest Service Road M-16/Bartlett Springs Road, about 15 miles north of Highway 20 and six miles east of Clearlake by air.
Brown said firefighters worked quickly on the fire, containing it in about six hours.
Smoke was first reported about 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, said Brown. Air and ground firefighting resources from the Forest Service and Cal Fire quickly began suppression actions, with air tankers and helicopters dropping water and retardant, and ground crews and equipment fighting the fire directly.
Firefighters contained the fire at 10:30 p.m., Brown reported.
The gazebo and a shop building that burned were located on the 1,990-acre property owned by Nestle. Brown said firefighters saved a house and five other structures, also on private property that the fire threatened.
The fire, according to Brown's report, began on private land and spread to the National Forest lands.
She added that the fire is believed to be human caused, and is still under investigation.
On Wednesday firefighters continued mopping up smoldering debris, reinforcing the existing fire line and looking for areas where the fire could flare up again.
This is the second time in less than two months that fire has destroyed buildings with ties to the historic Bartlett Springs Resort, founded in the 1870s, as Lake County News previously reported.
On July 28 a fire attributed to arson burned the lodge that resort caretaker Zane Gray had completely rebuilt in 1989, after the second lodge building to be located on the site was knocked down in a windstorm the previous year.
In the July fire, Gray said he found what he believed to be an ignition device in the lodge remains, which had been extensively vandalized in recent years despite his efforts to protect the buildings.
The July fire burned right up to the gazebo and stopped, Gray said.
Gray also had rebuilt the gazebo in 1985 in order to restore it to its early 20th-century look.
His efforts to care for the resort grounds saved all of the buildings during the 1996 Forks Fire, which destroyed numerous structures and burned 83,000 acres.
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After two hours of deliberations, a jury found Bruce Emerson Wells, 19, guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of 54-year-old Vietnam veteran Samuel Shull, reported Wells' attorney, Roy Miller of Santa Rosa.
Wells, who was a few months shy of turning 18 when the stabbing took place, was tried as an adult in the case, after a fitness hearing last year found him unfit to be tried as a juvenile, according to Deputy District Attorney David McKillop.
The confrontation that led to Shull's death took place on a Friday night – March 24, 2006 – outside of Shull's 33rd Avenue home, according to the police reports.
Wells and six other minors ranging in age from 14 to 19 were at the Shull home for a party, said Miller.
At the party was a half-gallon of brandy and 48 beers. Miller said several witnesses testified that Shull and his stepson, Jacob Rines, brought the liquor there. McKillop said testimony conflicted on just who actually did bring the alcohol, whether it was Shull or another adult named “Herb.”
The alcohol proved to be a critical factor in how the evening unfolded.
Wells and the other teens, who had known each other for some time and were friends, were drinking and partying in the home's living room, said Miller, while a number of adults were in another area of the home.
“The testimony at trial revealed that most of the kids were drinking heavily,” said Miller, a statement with which McKillop concurred.
A quarrel started after a teen at the party, Joshua Carter, playfully “goosed” Wells while trying to walk around him, Miller said.
Eventually the argument died down but Samuel Shull's wife, Linda, asked Wells to leave, said Miller.
Confrontation and death
Miller contends Wells did leave, although both he and McKillop reported testimony from witnesses that Wells stayed outside the home, yelling and pacing before throwing a softball-sized rock at the home's front door.
Wells then began walking down 33rd Avenue in the direction of his home, said Miller, followed by Shull, who went out into the rainy night wearing a pair of jeans and bedroom slippers but no shirt.
Why Shull followed Wells isn't clear, but both sides agreed that the two had a confrontation down the street, which no one heard.
The result, said Miller, was that Wells stabbed Shull once with a three-and-a-half-inch long fixed blade knife.
Said McMcKillop, “Our feeling is, that there was good, strong evidence that he (Wells) drew the victim out and stuck him.”
Shull then walked to the corner of his property and collapsed, said Miller.
Witnesses testified that they began screaming at Wells, who came back to the front yard. There, Shull's stepson, Jacob Rines, hit him more than once over the head with a 5-foot-long walking stick, which Miller said caused a significant head injury.
Both Shull and Wells were transported to Redbud Hospital, said Miller, where Shull was pronounced dead on arrival in the early morning hours of March 25, 2006.
Wells, who had bleeding into his brain from the blows to the head, was transported to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for treatment, said Miller.
McKillop and Miller both reported that Shull's autopsy revealed he had a blood alcohol level of .30, while Wells had a blood alcohol level of .19 coupled with marijuana.
Investigation and trial
The witnesses in the case weren't interviewed until three days afterward, both sides reported.
“You have to interview people as soon as possible,” said Miller. “They didn't.”
McKillop defended Clearlake Police's actions. “That night the scene was very chaotic and it was pouring down rain, so they wanted to preserve the physical evidence,” he said.
Police tried to set up interviews at the hospital after everyone had been checked out, but by the time police arrived at the hospital, everyone had left, said McKillop. Police found many of the teen witnesses at school the following Monday.
In a murder case, the degree isn't charged, said McKillop, although the jury can choose a degree in making a conviction. He said the District Attorney's Office felt the case was close – between second-degree murder and manslaughter – but they were looking for the higher murder charge.
For murder, McKillop explained, “You have to be able to form a certain intent, and being intoxicated can make it tougher to form that intent.”
Miller said Wells' consistent testimony was that he did not remember the confrontation with Shull, or for that matter anything after the argument with Carter. He said he presented testimony at court about how head injuries can cause that type of memory loss.
Wells, said Miller, “had no history of violence like this.”
McKillop and Miller both confirmed that Wells had contact with police as a juvenile, but those records are sealed and could not be used in this case.
Miller said he believed the conflicting, sometimes changing testimony of some of the witnesses led the jury to their verdict.
In particular, he pointed to the testimony of Jacob Rines and his sister, LeeAnn, who he said made statements on the stand that didn't match what they told police. Jurors pointed out that testimony to him as problematic, said Miller.
Miller accused Jacob Rines of witness tampering for having admitted that he told other witnesses what to say and, in particular, that they should say it was Wells who brought alcohol to the party.
Miller said he presented information to the District Attorney's Office in February regarding his allegations against Rines for witness tampering, which his investigator, Gary Hill, unearthed.
The District Attorney's Office declined to take any action, said McKillop, because it was neither dramatic nor pertinent information.
The jury's decision Tuesday, said McKillop, means that they found no malice in Well's actions.
Miller said he was thrilled with the verdict in the case, which is a tragic one.
“It's tragic that Sam died, but it's also equally tragic that he forced the confrontation,” said Miller.
Alcohol at the root of the incident
Both McKillop and Miller agreed that the case illustrates one vital point – teenagers shouldn't drink.
McKillop, who specializes in alcohol-related cases, particular those involving drinking and driving, said teens don't have the physical ability to handle alcohol, nor the life experience and judgment to make good decisions about alcohol use.
“What happened that night happened because of alcohol on both sides,” said Miller. “No parent should be allowing kids to drink in their home. It's insane.”
When Wells returns to Superior Court's Department 3 for sentencing at 8:15 a.m. Monday, Oct. 15, Judge Arthur Mann will have sentencing options ranging from probation to a maximum of five years in prison, said Miller.
The case now goes to the Probation Department, which will interview Wells and make a suggestion on how he should be sentenced, Miller added.
Because he's now 19, and he was tried as an adult, Wells would serve time in an adult facility, McKillop said.
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A report from the Willows California Highway Patrol Office explained that the accident last Wednesday involved Sheila A. Rangel, 34; Phyllis Burrows, 49; and 13-year-old Vivian Fred.
The incident took place at 8:55 p.m. Sept. 5, as Rangel was driving her 1995 Dodge Neon northbound on County Road 306 north of Highway 162 at approximately 55 to 60 miles per hour, the report stated.
Due to unsafe speed, the CHP reported that Rangel failed to slow or stop her vehicle before hitting a cow standing in the northbound lane.
After colliding with the cow, the CHP reported that Rangel's Neon went off the roadway and into the west dirt shoulder, where it hit a dirt embankment and rolled over onto its roof.
The Neon continued skidding northbound on its roof in the southbound lane, according to the CHP, before it came to stop on the west shoulder.
Though the cow reportedly didn't survive the collision, Rangel, Burrows and Fred came out much better off, despite the rollover.
CHP reported that Rangel had cuts and Fred was uninjured. Burrows was transported to Enloe Hospital in Chico with cuts to her arms.
All three were wearing their seat belts, the CHP reported.
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