CLEARLAKE ? On Wednesday a jury found a Clearlake Oaks man guilty of attempted voluntary manslaughter and assault with a firearm for a shooting the day before Thanksgiving last year, Nov. 26 in Clearlake Oaks.
Patrick McDaniel Sr., 45, faces a maximum of 18 years in prison, the Lake County District Attorney said in a press release.
McDaniel shot Patrick O”Connor Sr. last year outside a home on Second Street in Clearlake Oaks where McDaniel and others had been visiting that evening, the district attorney said. After O”Connor Sr. was shot, he ran to his house next door, where family members assisted him until medical personnel arrived.
The jury also found McDaniel guilty of felony possession of a firearm, felony possession of ammunition and carrying a loaded firearm in public, the district attorney said. The jury found true special allegations the defendant personally used a firearm in the commission of the crime, intentionally discharged a firearm, and caused great bodily injury to the victim. Seven women and five men on the jury deliberated for about five hours in court in Clearlake before finding McDaniel not guilty of attempted murder, the district attorney reported.
Deputy District Attorney Sharon Lerman-Hubert prosecuted in the trial that started Aug. 18 with defense attorney William Conwell representing McDaniel and Judge Stephen Hedstrom presiding the trial, the district attorney said.
Witnesses said prior to the shooting, McDaniel was argumentative, bragging and flashing a small semiautomatic pistol, the district attorney reported. McDaniel then stepped outside into the yard where he exchanged words with O”Connor.
O”Connor and his son, Patrick O”Connor Jr. approached McDaniel, the district attorney said. McDaniel then pulled the gun from his coat pocket, pistol-whipped the elder O”Connor in the head, and shot him once in the chest.
The younger O”Connor testified that he heard one shot and then two more clicks as he and his father fled.
A 5-year-old boy playing the next morning in his yard three houses west picked up the gun, the district attorney reported. Law enforcement believe McDaniel had used the .380 caliber Walther PPK jammed with a round in the chamber.
McDaniel fled to Las Vegas, Nev., where U.S. Marshals captured him in December. There, Sgt. Det. Jim Samples of the Lake County Sheriff”s Office interviewed McDaniel. McDaniel admitted to the shooting but claimed it was an accident and that he was defending himself and his brother, Cecil McDaniel. McDaniel is scheduled to return to court Nov. 6 for a sentencing hearing.
