LAKEPORT ? A jury found 19-year-old Clearlake resident Bruce Wells guilty of involuntary manslaughter Tuesday for the 2006 stabbing of Samuel Schull.
Wells faces a maximum of four years in a state prison, according to Lake County Deputy District Attorney David McKillop. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct. 15 at 8:15 a.m. in Department 3 of the Lake County courthouse.
“I understand the verdict but obviously I thought it was second degree murder,” said McKillop.
“We have to prove malice aforethought, which takes some formulation of intent,” said McKillop, referring to his duty as a prosecutor. “The jury found that he (Wells) stabbed and killed him (Schull), but that he did so without malice aforethought; they found he was too intoxicated to form the intent to kill.”
McKillop said Wells had a blood alcohol level of .19 and estimated the then-17-year-old”s weight at 180 pounds.
“When you take into account his age, his experience level and his level of intoxication, you can understand how a jury would arrive at that result,” said McKillop.
Witnesses related on the stand pieces of the events of the evening the altercation occurred. They said a group of seven to 12 minors were gathered at Schull”s Clearlake home and had been drinking for a few hours in the living room while Schull and his wife were in a back room.
McKillop said that Wells” peers described him “acting up” after a friend “goosed” him, and was asked to leave.
Witnesses” stories differed about how long Wells was gone, varying between 30 seconds and 10 minutes, before he came back and reportedly threw a softball-sized rock at the front door while yelling from the street. At that point, McKillop said Schull went outside to tell Wells to leave.
Schull walked west on 33rd Avenue after Wells until they stopped just west of Wilkinson Avenue. Witnesses described an approximately 30 second period when the two were standing still, after which Schull turned around and said he”d been stabbed, according to McKillop.
Wells” defense attorney Roy Miller did not return phone calls to his office before the Record-Bee went to press Wednesday night.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
