LAKE COUNTY — With a jury trial expected in the fall for Carmichael resident Bismarck Dinius, both the prosecution and defense say they do not want to move the trial out of Lake County, despite media attention.
Dinius was held to answer Wednesday on charges of vehicular manslaughter and boating under the influence of alcohol in a boating accident more than two years ago. He faces the charges because he was sitting at the tiller of a friend”s sailboat the night of April 29, 2006, when the boat was struck from behind by Lake County Chief Deputy Sheriff Russell Perdock”s powerboat, killing sailboat passenger Lynn Thornton of Willows.
“I think Lake County citizens being jurors would be very good in this case,” Dinius” defense attorney Victor Haltom said.
After trying unsuccessfully in the fall of 2007 to recuse the Lake County District Attorney”s Office from the case, Haltom said he wants to keep the case in Lake County. He said Wednesday that while it is usually the defense that requests a change of venue, it was possible that Lake County Deputy District Attorney John Langan might ask to move the trial.
Langan said in a Thursday interview that he did not plan to request a venue change.
“I am not going to comment on any more aspects of the case, mainly for the reason that we are not going to ask for a change of venue,” Langan said.
Despite more than 500 online posts to Record-Bee coverage of the case in the last two weeks and national attention brought through coverage by Dan Noyes of ABC 7 News in San Francisco, Haltom said he doesn”t believe there will be any difficulty in finding a fair and unbiased jury.
“I believe that there will be some jurors who know too much about the facts and jurors who have already formed opinions, but I”m sure there are enough people in Lake County that we can get a fair jury,” Haltom said.
Dinius said after his court date he believes the justice system will work in his favor.
“I can”t imagine that the facts of the case, if represented to a jury, would convict me. I have to believe that,” Dinius said.
Dinius is set to be arraigned on the information July 28. Haltom said Dinius has a right to a jury trial within 60 days of the arraignment. In the trial, Haltom said he plans to request a blood sample from Perdock so it can be compared to the blood sample taken at Redbud Community Hospital the night of the accident. He also plans to introduce evidence that Perdock arranged to have a friend tow his boat the night of the accident.
“If we enforce our speedy trial rights, we could have a trial in September,” Haltom said. He estimated the case could take “a good three weeks” to try.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
