A jury could not decide if Renato Hughes Jr. was guilty of an assault on Clearlake Park resident Dale Lafferty with a metal bat, for which Hughes was prosecuted as an accessory to the crime. Presiding Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Barbara Zuniga declared a mistrial for the single assault charge Monday, when the jury announced it was hung 11-1 in favor of a guilty verdict.
The jury acquitted Hughes of murder, attempted murder and robbery on Friday afternoon. The decision followed eight weeks of trial and two weeks of deliberation.
“We”re ecstatic ? we feel vindicated. For the homicide charges, he was facing life without the possibility of parole,” San Francisco attorney Sara Rief said. She was standing in for Hughes defense attorney, Stuart Hanlon, when the hung jury was announced.
The jury also found Hughes guilty of assaulting Clearlake Park resident Shannon Edmonds and armed burglary in an alleged home invasion gone bad in December 2005. Hughes faced two counts of murder for the shooting deaths of his companions, Rashad Williams and Christian Foster, even though Edmonds testified he, not Hughes, pulled the trigger as the men ran from his home.
“We have always maintained that the Provocative Act law does not apply in this case. Mr. Edmonds testified on the stand that he killed them because he didn”t want them to get away because the cops would not do their jobs, not because he was provoked,” Rief said.
Hopkins charged Hughes under the Provocative Act Doctrine, which says a person who commits a felony can be held responsible for the death of a co-conspirator that occurs during the crime if the death results from an act committed during the crime that is likely to provoke a lethal response.
According to Hopkins, Hughes was charged as an accessory to the crime for the actions of his companions, including Williams” attack on Edmonds” son Lafferty with a metal bat that left him permanently brain damaged. Hopkins said he will announce a decision about how to proceed on the assault charge at a Sept. 9 sentencing hearing for Hughes. He said he could retry Hughes for the assault, dismiss the charge or arrange a plea bargain.
“Apparently one of the jurors decided that because Dale (Lafferty) hit somebody with the bat, the person hitting him might have been acting in self defense, even though self defense does not apply in this situation,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins continued, “It does not apply because there is no indication that Dale hit anybody with deadly force, and he was not armed at the time, so it would have been revenge, not self-defense, and he (Lafferty) was not committing a felony. He was defending his home with reasonable force,” Hopkins said.
Rief said Hughes may appeal the two convictions.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
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