I learned Aug. 26 that Renato Hughes, whom the jury found not guilty of the murder of his two friends shot by Shannon Edmonds Dec. 7, 2005 in Clearlake Park will be sentenced in Lake County September 8 after being tried in Contra Costa County due to a change of venue.
The Martinez jury did find Hughes guilty of being an accessory to burglary and assault connected to the violence that occurred inside Edmonds”s home that resulted in the deaths of Hughes”s friends Rashad Williams and Christian Foster, both shot in the back by Edmonds as they fled his house.
Lake County District Attorney Jon Hopkins and reporters called the incident a home invasion break in by Hughes, Williams and Foster to steal marijuana, but Hughes testified differently. Defense Attorney Stuart Hanlon termed the incident a drug deal gone bad, and witnesses testified that residents at Edmonds”s home had sold marijuana to Rashad Williams before Dec. 7, 2005.
The trio of young men plus a fourth young male whose nickname was “Dre” according to Hughes”s testimony, went to Edmonds”s home to buy marijuana early Dec. 7, 2005.
The incident also caused permanent brain damage to a youth inside Edmonds”s home, Dale Lafferty, the son of Edmonds”s live-in girl friend Lori Tyler. Lafferty was struck on the head with a metal bat the night of Dec. 7, 2005.
I attended this trial every Tuesday in Martinez, and I question the validity of Shannon Edmonds as a witness in the first place. I question how Jon Hopkins could use a suicidal criminal”s testimony to charge someone with murder.
While press releases from law enforcement and the DA asserted that Edmonds was a medical marijuana patient, Edmonds admitted on the witness stand that his medical marijuana card was dated 2003, and had expired. Witnesses, even Edmonds”s own mother, testified that Edmonds does not tell the truth. Edmonds used minor children to sell marijuana, and hired children to trim marijuana, paying them with marijuana instead of money. Children, now young adults, testified to this during the trial. This is a crime Edmonds could go to jail for, according to Stuart Hanlon, Hughes”s attorney.
Hanlon attempted repeatedly in the absence of the jury to have Edmonds impeached as a witness.
Edmonds himself testified that he shot Rashad Williams as Williams lay, already shot four times, helpless and twitching.
The jury found Renato not guilty of most charges, including the murder of his two friends who Edmonds admits he shot after what he called a home invasion.
It was not a home invasion, according to Hughes”s testimony, but an attempted purchase of marijuana that ended in violence and death of his two friends, shot by Edmonds.
Renato Hughes is not guilty of the murder of his two friends. What will now be done to prosecute the person who is guilty? How could Jon Hopkins take the word of a drug dealer in charging Renato Hughes in the first place?
It is a tragedy that Dale Laferty was hit in the head and suffers permanent brain damage due to the conflict inside Edmonds house Dec. 7, 2005. It is a tragedy that two lives were lost, due to Shannon Edmonds shooting two young men in the back as they ran from his house.
Yet evidence and testimony proved unclear as to whether or not Laferty was in the act of assaulting some one else with the metal bat when he himself was struck in the head.
Two eye witnesses, Karl Taget and Justin Sutch, have yet to be on the stand as to the events Dec. 7, 2005.
It was proven that a change of venue was necessary for a fair trial. Can Hughes receive a fair sentencing in Lake County when he was granted a change of venue for his trial?
This whole case is a mess, clouded with lost evidence, a black jacket, the stipulation by both attorneys that that Edmonds had already attempted suicide in 2003, and the hammer used as evidence that was not present in the photographs of the scene of the incident the day it happened.
Lori Tyler, Edmonds”s live-in girl friend at the time of the incident, testified Edmonds threatened to kill her one way or another and tried to get her to kill herself with and overdose of pills and write a suicide note just this last summer. Tyler ended up in the emergency ward because of the pills Shannon Edmonds convinced her to take.
The Clear Lake police officer Michael Ray gave two conflicting accounts on the witness stand on the number of vials of blood taken from Renato the day he was taken into custody. First Michael Ray said four vials were taken, then later on the stand he testified there were more than four.
Shannon Edmonds even threatened Dale Laferty”s Grandfather Frank Kester and told him not to testify, according to Kester”s testimony.
I admit to being possibly biased due to the fact that I visited Renato Hughes once a week when he was housed in the Lake County Jail, beginning in January 2008. We did not discuss the case. We discussed the Lake County Jail.
Even Dale Laferty”s grandfather is not convinced how Dale was injured, or who struck him on the head with the metal bat.
Can this be resolved in a just, fair manner?
Joan Moss of Kelseyville is a free lance writer, performing artist and activist. Guest commentaries are the sole opinions of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Clear Lake Observer*American or its staff.
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