LAKEPORT — On Sept. 15, Judge Arthur H. Mann will hear arguments for a new trial for twice-tried Nathan Davison, who last November was convicted in Lake County Superior Court of a cold-case murder in the death of a Clearlake Oaks man.
Davison was convicted of shooting Tracy Lyons, the stepfather of his former wife, in 1998 by the unanimous vote of a jury after an earlier trial ended in a hung jury. Public defender Doug Rhoades defended Davison in both trials.
Mitchell Hauptman, a Lakeport attorney who stepped into the picture just before Mann ruled on the jury”s recommendation for a 45-years-to-life sentence for Davison, is making the motion for a new trial, based on his belief that there was not sufficient evidence to support the jury”s verdict.
“The process wasn”t quite correct, so there wasn”t a fair result,” Hauptman said. “It was shocking the way it went down.”
The prosecution”s case against Davison was almost entirely based on the testimony of his former wife, Jillian Davison, and her mother, Deborah Lyons, and three cadaver dog trainers who said their dogs sniffed out the place where Davison was alleged to have buried Lyons” body.
None of the physical evidence that Jillian Davison and Deborah Lyons said Davison used in killing Lyons — a revolver, a 55-gallon barrel and an electric chain saw were never found.
In the next court date on the retrial issue, Sept. 15, Mann will determine whether witnesses named in the motion for a new trial will be called.
“He (Hauptman) said we should have held a hearing before we introduced the dog handlers and that Mr. Rhoades should have done more investigation or called witnesses,” said Hopkins.
On the likelihood of a third trial for Davison after the November 2005 conviction, Hauptman said, “Do I feel in my heart that a new trial will be granted? I feel in my heart that one should be, that there was a great miscarriage of justice.”
Contact John Lindblom at jlwordsmith@mchsi.com.
