Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Barbara Zuniga ruled Thursday that the Renato Hughes Jr. case will be back in Lake County for an Aug. 28 court date to decide if Hughes will be sentenced by a Lake County judge.
The prominent case was moved to Contra Costa County Superior Court after a change of venue was granted in November 2007. Zuniga ruled the case should return to Lake County based on a court rule adopted in 2007 that says all post-conviction proceedings in a case where a venue change was granted, including sentencing, should be heard in the court that transferred the case. Lake County Superior Court Judge Arthur Mann will preside over the Aug. 28 court date.
“I”m happy to be in Lake County. I want an objective judge, and I think Judge (Arthur) Mann could do that,” Hughes” defense attorney, Stuart Hanlon, said Friday.
Hanlon requested the venue change on the basis that Lake County is only 2 percent black, less than the 6.7 percent state average. Hughes is black, as were his two companions.
“I think the idea was to bring it back to the community where the crime occurred, since there is a greater interest in the outcome of the case,” Lake County District Attorney Jon Hopkins said.
Hopkins continued to prosecute Hughes after the venue change. A jury on Aug. 8 acquitted Hughes of murder, attempted murder and robbery, and convicted him of assaulting Clearlake Park resident Shannon Edmonds and armed burglary in an alleged home invasion gone bad in December 2005. Edmonds is white.
Hopkins prosecuted Hughes as an accessory to all of the crimes alleged to have happened at 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.
Hopkins said, “Just because a jury panel was disqualified in the community shouldn”t mean that where the crime occurred shouldn”t be where he (Hughes) is sentenced.”
He continued, “Sometimes the defendants don”t want the judge who has heard all the facts of the case to do the sentencing.”
Hanlon said, “The facts in this case are that my client is innocent of the most serious charges. The jury in this case decided the facts. My client is not guilty of murder, attempted murder, attempted manslaughter and not guilty of robbery. He aid and abetted a burglary and an assault. Jon Hopkins wants to go beyond that and bypass the jury”s verdict.”
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com or call her direct at 263-5636, ext. 37.
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