LAKEPORT — A Lake County Superior Court judge set the trial date Monday for two Sonoma County men charged with attempted premeditated murder.
Thomas Loyd Dudney and Joshua Isaac Wandrey are scheduled for trial May 4.
Judge Arthur Mann ruled the Lake County District Attorney”s Office presented enough evidence during the preliminary hearing ending March 1 to hold the men on the charges. However, Mann decided there wasn”t enough evidence to hold Deborah Ann James on the charges against her, including premeditated attempted murder, home invasion robbery in concert with another, first-degree burglary and participating in the criminal street gang the Misfits.
Dudney, 59, of Fulton and Wandrey, 35, of Rohnert Park are charged with premeditated attempted murder, aggravated mayhem, torture, home invasion robbery in concert with another, first-degree burglary, assault with a firearm, assault with a blunt force object, assault likely to produce great bodily injury, serious battery, simple mayhem and participating in the criminal street gang the Misfits.
Three of the 11 charges carry life sentences. Special allegations that the crimes were committed for the benefit of a criminal street gang, that great bodily injury was inflicted and use of a firearm accompany the charges.
Dudney and two other codefendants, Joseph Henri Deshetres, 62, of Santa Rosa and Cheryl Ann Reese, 56, of Lakeport allegedly conspired in November to intimidate a witness in the attempted murder case against Dudney.
Deshetres, Dudney and Reese are charged with intimidating a witness and participating in the criminal street gang the Misfits. Special allegations that the crimes were committed for the benefit of a criminal street gang accompany the first charge. The charges with special allegations carry a life sentence.
The three defendants will return to court 1:30 p.m. Friday in Department 3 for a likely decision on whether sufficient evidence was presented during the preliminary hearing to go to trial. They returned to the Lake County Jail on a no-bail hold.
Dudney and Wandrey are scheduled to return to court 8:15 a.m. April 5 for an omnibus motion hearing, where attorneys are encouraged to file motions before the jury trial starts. The pair will also return to court April 14 for a trial readiness conference and April 30 for a trial call. Dudney and Wandrey are also being held without bail in the attempted murder case.
Contact Katy Sweeny at kdsweeny@gmail.com or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
