LAKE COUNTY — Carmichael resident Bismarck Dinius will stand trial for vehicular manslaughter after Lake County Superior Court Judge Richard C. Martin ruled that Deputy District Attorney John Langan met his burden of proof to hold Dinius to answer for criminal charges in an April 2006 boating accident. Martin said for the preliminary hearing, Langan had to show “a strong suspicion that the crime was committed and that the defendant committed it.”
Lake County Chief Deputy Sheriff Russell Perdock said on the stand Wednesday that his earlier statement that he was traveling between 40 and 45 miles per hour when his powerboat rear-ended a sailboat was incorrect. He estimated his speed was between 30 and 35 miles per hour on the stand in the fourth and final day of a preliminary hearing for Dinius.
“There is gross negligence in this case, and it is that of Chief Deputy Perdock, and that is obvious from the facts that have unfolded in this case. The gross negligence here by Perdock is the sole cause of the death in this case,” Haltom said.
Dinius piloted a friend”s 27-foot O”Day sailboat the night of April 29, 2006, when Perdock”s powerboat hit it from behind, ramped over it, snapped the mast and landed on the other side. Dinius is charged with vehicular manslaughter involving a vessel for the death of Willows resident Lynn Thornton, who was a passenger on the sailboat. He also faces a charge of boating under the influence of alcohol.
“My council has done a great job exposing some holes in the prosecution, so I”m really surprised about the ruling today,” Dinius said after the hearing.
Langan alleged Dinius was guilty of ordinary negligence, rather than gross negligence. He said Dinius faces a maximum prison sentence of four years.
Perdock said approximately one minute before he hit the sailboat, he checked his powerboat”s fuel gauge and glanced at his speedometer and tachometer. He said speed estimates he gave in an interview with Sacramento County Sheriff”s Department Sgt. Charles Slabaugh two months after the accident and during a civil deposition in the fall of 2007 were incorrect.
“When I gave the testimony, I had not seen the gauges in a while. I was going off of my best recollection. It wasn”t until I saw Dan Noyes” report that I realized I had made a terrible error in my interview with Sgt. Slabaugh and in the deposition,” Perdock said.
Noyes of ABC Channel 7 is following the trial, and videotaped the court proceedings for broadcast.
Perdock testified he had consumed “part of a Coors Light,” about eight ounces of beer at 5 p.m. He said the visibility was good on the moonless night, and that he saw another boat”s stern light 600 yards in front of his boat, enough time to adjust his course.
“The collision of the powerboat with the sailboat was an intervening act (in Thornton”s death) ? it was a dependent intervening act. It was dependent on the fact that the stern light was not illuminated, and the pilot could not see it,” Langan said in closing statements.
The case was set for arraignment on the information July 28.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
