LAKEPORT ? Mendocino County resident Anthony Scott Cape, 42, was sentenced to 13 years in state prison Monday.
A jury convicted him Sept. 9 of kidnapping, robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury and making a criminal threat. This transpired during a December 2004 marijuana-related incident at a Clearlake home.
Following a two-week trial, a jury found Cape guilty of kidnapping and beating a Mendocino County man who was invited to a Clearlake home to obtain marijuana he intended to sell, according to a Lake County District Attorney”s Office press release.
“This was a very violent episode, and the members of the jury wisely evaluated the evidence and did not shy away from their responsibility merely because the victim had a criminal record of his own. Essentially it was believed to be a situation of street justice, but the jury correctly concluded that street justice can”t be tolerated in our legal system,” Senior Deputy District Attorney John DeChaine said.
The victim is not being identified because the investigation of the case continues, according to DeChaine. The victim acknowledged he had a history of selling marijuana, according to DeChaine, and traveled through Lake County on trips between Mendocino County and Sacramento.
According to a Lake County District Attorney”s Office press release, Cape came out of hiding when the victim used the bathroom of the Clearlake home. Cape beat him with closed fists, stomped on his head with work boots and knocked him into the empty bathtub. Another man helped Cape bind the victim”s wrists and ankles with plastic zip-ties.
The men caught the victim trying to call 9-1-1 on his cell phone after they left the bathroom briefly. The men took the phone and loaded the victim in the trunk of his car. A third man joined Cape and the other suspect, and the three men drove through Clearlake for an unknown amount of time, according to DeChaine.
The victim used a second cell phone to call 9-1-1 from his trunk, but police were unable to find him. DeChaine said the victim was not familiar with Clearlake and had trouble identifying where he was. Clearlake police tried to locate him by triangulating his position using three cellular towers, but were unsuccessful.
The victim pulled an emergency latch inside the trunk and escaped while the car was moving. He spent the night in a ditch by the side of Ogulin Canyon Road, not far from where his car was abandoned, and got help the next day, according to the release.
Cape”s defense attorney, Thomas Quinn, could not be reached by press time Wednesday.
Redwood Valley resident James Paul Miller, 20, turned himself in to Clearlake police eight days after the Dec. 4, 2007 kidnapping on a warrant for his arrest for six related felony charges. The charges were later dropped, and Miller testified for the prosecution in Cape”s trial, according to DeChaine.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636 ext. 37.
