MARTINEZ — Whether former San Francisco resident Renato Hughes Jr. should be held responsible as a crime partner for the beating of Clearlake Park resident Dale Lafferty will be determined by Lake County District Attorney Jon Hopkins. He will announce the decision during Hughes” Sept. 9 sentencing hearing in Contra Costa County Superior Court.
A jury on Aug. 8 acquitted Hughes of murder, attempted murder and robbery, and convicted him of assaulting Lafferty”s father Shannon Edmonds and armed burglary in an alleged home invasion gone bad in December 2005. The jury came back hung 11-1 in favor of convicting Hughes for the beating on Lafferty.
Hopkins said he believed one of Hughes” two companions beat Lafferty that night, leaving him permanently brain damaged. Edmonds admitted on the stand that he shot Hughes” friends, Rashad Williams and Christian Foster, as the three men ran unarmed from his home.
Hopkins said he believed Williams beat Lafferty, “Based on the description of the clothing worn and the testimony of the residents of the home saying he was the one beating Dale with the bat, and on the fact that right next to the bat, lying in the hallway outside the master bedroom was a garden glove, the mate of which was on Rashad”s other hand.”
Hughes” defense attorney Stuart Hanlon said he didn”t know who hit Lafferty with the bat. He said the evidence was “vague and confusing, but someone hit him (Lafferty) with a bat, that”s for sure.”
Hopkins prosecuted Hughes as an accessory to all of the crimes alleged to have happened inside Edmonds” home under the Provocative Act Doctrine. The doctrine says a person can be held responsible for the death of a co-conspirator that occurs while committing a felony if one of the perpetrators did something during the crime that was likely to provoke a lethal response.
The assault on Lafferty was originally charged as attempted second-degree murder. The jury found Hughes not guilty of attempted murder, as well as a lesser charge of attempted manslaughter, before the attack was reduced to an assault charge.
“There was no robbery, there was no attempt to kill Dale Lafferty. It was an assault, but there is evidence that was self-defense,” Hanlon said.
Hopkins said he has three options: Retry Hughes for the assault charge, work out a plea bargain or drop the charge.
Hanlon said he is willing to talk to Hopkins about a plea bargain, but estimated Lake County”s cost to retry Hughes would be prohibitive.
“He would have to try the whole case again. The only way the assault takes place is to explain what happened,” Hanlon said.
Hanlon said Hughes is facing between two and eight years in prison for the two convictions. He said since Hughes has already served two and a half years, he could be released at his sentencing hearing.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
