LAKE COUNTY — A Lake County jury found Leland Buckmaster of Nice not-guilty Wednesday of five theft, contracting related and elder theft counts filed by the district attorney”s office, according to a press release from attorney Doug Rhoades.
After two days of testimony, the jury took 45 minutes to return not-guilty verdicts on all counts.
Buckmaster was charged by the district attorney with theft from an elder, grand theft, embezzlement, contracting without a license and charging in excess of $1,000 for a deposit on a contract.
District Attorney Jon Hopkins said the defendant and the senior entered into an agreement in 2006. The work was not performed. Hopkins said the trial was delayed by the defendant”s failure to appear.
“By the time it got to trial, the victim did not have a very good recollection of the details,” Hopkins said. “Had Mr. Rhoades come to our attorney in advance of the trial, letting us know he believed he had a defense, we might not have had a trial. Our elder abuse unit is very aggressive. Every single case has difficulties because the victims are elderly or disabled. If it looks like we have a case, we go forward. Our victims are very vulnerable and the cases are very difficult,” Hopkins said. “I can tell you right now there are elder abusers in prison because we went forward on a case we could have easily lost.”
Rhoades said it took 45 minutes of deliberation for the jury to return not guilty verdicts on all counts.
The jury foreperson, who did not authorize use of a name, stated the case was such that no proof of the charges sufficient for a guilty verdict was provided by the prosecution, according to Rhoades.
Rhoades stated Buckmaster was charged based on an agreement to provide a water filtration system which was not completed in a timely manner.
The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Rachel Abelson. The defendant was represented by Rhoades.
Mandy Feder can be reached at mandyfeder@yahoo.com or call directly 263-5636 ext. 32.
