LAKE COUNTY — A change of venue was granted Thursday in the Renato Hughes murder trial by retired Superior Court Judge William A. McKinstry, following the second request by defense attorney Stuart Hanlon. A hearing will be held Dec. 14 at 8:15 a.m. in Department 3 of the Lake County courthouse in Lakeport to decide where the case will be heard.
“The relief on my son”s face, that”s what tells me that justice will be done,” Renato Hughes” mother Judy Hughes said outside the courtroom Thursday afternoon. Former San Francisco resident Renato Hughes, 23, is accused in the shooting deaths of his companions Christian Foster, 22, of San Francisco, and Rashad Williams, 21, of Brisbane in an alleged robbery gone bad at the Clearlake Park home of Shannon Edmonds on Dec. 7, 2005.
Rather than charging Edmonds, Lake Couty District Attorney Jon Hopkins elected to charge Hughes with the two men”s deaths under the Provocative Act doctrine, a clause that holds co-conspirators responsible in the commission of a felony that is likely to provoke deadly resistance. An autopsy of Williams and Foster revealed in January 2006 that the two men were shot in the back.
Hopkins will continue to prosecute the case. He said late Thursday that the burden of prosecution for the Provocative Act doctrine does not mean proving Hughes intended to kill his companions.
“There are two theories under which Hughes could be found to be responsible for actions that provoke a deadly response. If we do not prove that these young men broke into the house and committed a burglary or that they were engaged in a robbery, then the issue would be whether they did something else that would provoke a lethal response, and I have no idea what they”re going to claim happened. I just have my own evidence to go on,” Hopkins said.
McKinstry granted the motion based on a finding that 45 percent of the 150 potential jurors who filled out questionnaires were excused either because of racial prejudice or because they had formed an opinion on the case based on media coverage.
Hanlon said outside the courtroom that 10 percent of a jury pool excused for those reasons is a high amount. “This is not an attack or a slap on Lake County, it”s just that sometimes cases should not be tried where they occurred. I think Hopkins, as smart as he is, just didn”t see it coming. Lake County is not a bad county, it”s just bad for the case,” Hanlon said. McKinstry cited the case of Odle v. Superior Court, saying that proving actual prejudice existed was not necessary in considering a change of venue.
McKinstry said that in resolving a change of venue motion, “the defense does not need to show that actual bias exists, just a reasonable likelihood.”
McKinstry stated in conclusion, “The court entertains doubt that the defendant could receive a fair trial in Lake County.” He excused the 12 jurors the court had finished selecting Thursday morning after six days of individual questioning by the prosecution and the defense.
A change of venue was denied by Superior Court Judge Arthur Mann in March; McKinstry noted an admonition in that ruling that the change of venue could be revisited at a later date.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com
