LAKE COUNTY — Lake County Superior Court Judge Arthur Mann put jury trial off last week for Clearlake resident John Alan Gillies, 43, until April 8. The trial was set to begin Feb. 20, according to Lake County deputy district attorney John Langan, who is prosecuting the case.
Gillies is accused of robbing Twin Pines Casino in Middletown and a carjacking on the morning of Nov. 6, 2006. Langan said the formal charges against Gillies include kidnapping in the course of a carjacking, carjacking and robbery. A special allegation that Gillies used a handgun applied to all three counts, Langan said. The trial date was continued at the request of Gillies” Lower Lake defense attorney Thomas Quinn, according to Langan.
“The defense asked for more time, and we didn”t oppose because we still have an ongoing investigation,” Langan said Thursday. He said he is expecting additional reports from the California Department of Justice, the lead agency on the case.
“There are leads ? further witnesses to the crime ? and we need to get that fleshed out. There”s evidence we submitted to the department for testing, and the results of those testings should be available shortly,” Langan said.
“He”s (Gillies) looking at a considerable amount of time here,” Langan said. For the kidnapping charge alone, Gillies could face life in prison with the possibility of parole. If Gillies is convicted on all three counts and the gun allegation is found to be true, he could face up to 32 years in prison before he is eligible for parole, according to Langan.
According to a press release from the Lake County Sheriff”s Department (LCSD) dated Nov. 7, 2006, Gillies allegedly carjacked a white truck at a Middletown car wash off of Highway 29 at approximately 4:40 a.m.
According to the Nov. 7, 2006 LCSD press release, Gillies “displayed a handgun and forced the (carjacking) victim to drive him approximately one half mile southbound on Highway 29, where the victim was forced to get out of the truck.
“The suspect then drove to the casino, entered the building alone and went directly to the cash cage, At gunpoint, the cashier surrendered a box containing a large amount of U.S. currency,” according to the Nov. 7, 2006 LCSD press release.
Langan estimated the amount of money taken was “in the tens of thousands of dollars.”
The Bureau of Gambling Control (BGC) ? a division of the California Department of Justice ? began investigating Gillies as a suspect in the robbery after he was arrested in Colusa on April 16, 2007. According to a December 6, 2007 BGC press release, the BGD “coordinated his (Gillies) arrest while he was en route to conduct an armed robbery of the Colusa Casino.” The BGC release goes on to say that a Colusa County Sheriff deputy conducted a traffic stop on Gillies, and that gloves, a mask and a firearm were seized from the vehicle. Gillies faces related felony charges in the Colusa County Superior Court.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
