Elizabeth Larson – Record-Bee staff
LAKEPORT A teenager accused of killing a Clearlake man last month was in court Tuesday afternoon.
Bruce Emerson Wells, 17, of Clearlake was determined suitable earlier this week to stand trial as an adult for the March 24 murder of 54-year-old Samuel Shull.
On Tuesday afternoon, Wells was due in Superior Court for arraignment and assignment of a defense attorney.
Wells case was held up Tuesday because of scheduling difficulties, according to District Attorney Gary Luck.
The teenager eventually appeared in Lake County Superior Court s Department 1 in front of Judge David Herrick, where David Markham was assigned as his public defender, Luck reported.
Luck said Wells will next appear in Clearlake s Department 4 at 8:15 a.m. May 5 for entry of a plea to the one murder count he faces, which is coupled with a special enhancement for using a knife as a murder weapon.
Until then, said Luck, He will remain in custody on bail of $250,000 at Juvenile Hall.
That s where Wells has been since his arrest last month following an investigation by Clearlake Police and the discovery of the murder weapon at Shull s home, which also was the scene of the crime.
According to a Clearlake Police report, Wells allegedly stabbed Shull in the chest with a knife at approximately 11:23 p.m. The two, the police report indicated, had known each other before their final confrontation occurred.
Shull s wife, Linda, said Samuel Shull had asked Wells to leave because he was drunk and belligerent.
Linda Shull said Wells returned shortly thereafter to the home she shared with Samuel Shull, a decorated Vietnam veteran. She said the teenager began throwing rocks at the house, prompting she and her husband to go outside to talk with him.
On that rainy night, as Linda Shull previously told the Record-Bee, she watched from the porch as her husband approached the youth to talk to him, only to turn around and call for help, saying, He s killed me.
A family member of Shull s reportedly struck Wells in the head after the stabbing. Both Shull and Wells were taken to Redbud Hospital, where Shull was pronounced dead and Wells was placed under arrest.
Contact Elizabeth Larson at elarson@record-bee.com.
