My name is Steve Davis. Between 1991 and 1998 I was commander of the CHP Office in Lake County, and I have lived here since retirement.
Over the past few years, I have watched the painful drama that has engulfed Lake County since the unfortunate boat wreck that claimed the life of Lynn Thornton. I didn”t know Ms. Thornton, but from all accounts she was a good woman who is sorely missed by her friends and family.
Anytime a good person is killed, we start looking for answers. Law enforcement looks for causes, while clerics look for divine answers, and the family seeks to answer the eternal question of “Why?”
Unfortunately, there is a third dynamic that frequently presents itself. Those persons who look for opportunities to turn the tragedy into personal gain, or to further their own agenda. We see it on the national news daily, as personalities like Geraldo Rivera, Al Sharpton, Jerry Springer, and others come out of the woodwork to improve their ratings and further their own agendas. Of course, Lake County doesn”t warrant national attention, but we aren”t immune from these media leeches; regionally, there is always some Geraldo wannabe who is willing to turn your tragedy into their personal gain. Enter Dan Noyes.
This case was a dream come true for him. It is a classic “us against them,” government conspiracy story set against the background of the eternal strife between power boaters and sailboaters. He came, he riled up the locals on both sides, left us in a frenzy and moved on to cover other stories that might get him the big break he wants. The hurtfulness has left a deep wound that just won”t heal itself.
Now, the unrest and discontent has manifested itself in the local races for Sheriff and District Attorney. As a former law enforcement manager, and a former Chairman of a local political party, I have been asked by many to offer my thoughts on the races, and, in particular, the incumbents who are under attack. With the indulgence of readers of this newspaper, I would like to offer my perspective on the key persons accused and demonized by the conspiracy theorists. Perhaps it will help some cope with the facts, if they choose to accept them.
I have known and worked closely with Rod Mitchell during his entire duration as Sheriff, although I retired prior to the Thornton incident. During the last few years, I have watched Rod respond to the numerous allegations resulting from the Thornton incident. Notice I did not call it an accident, because it could have been avoided by any one of three persons responsible. Yes, as I understand it, the civil suit was settled, finding three persons each partly responsible; Dinius, Perdock, and the boat owner, Mark Weber. I will address degrees of responsibility later in this article.
First, I”d like to offer my opinion of Sheriff Mitchell”s actions throughout the incident.
From the outset, he acted professionally and honorably. On the night in question, he removed himself from the direct investigation to alleviate allegations of interference. He directed his staff to assure the timely securing of blood samples of those involved, assure the scene was preserved and evidence retained while immediately requesting the accident be investigated by the Sacramento Sheriff”s office, who happens to be the north state”s pre-imminent waterways incident investigation team. He got the DA”s office involved immediately. All of this is routinely done by a Commander in an effort to prevent any allegations of wrongdoing, collusion, or special treatment. As a former commander, he followed established protocol as I would have expected, even though it had to be heartbreaking for him.
When the Sacramento Sheriffs investigation was completed, Rod didn”t get involved in the filing decisions. Appropriately, he turned it over to the Lake County District Attorney Jon Hopkins to determine the appropriate charges.
Later, when uninformed people began to make allegations of improprieties by the sheriff”s office, he asked the State Attorney General to conduct an investigation into the Department”s handling of the case. The state attorney general, who has no local allegiance to Rod Mitchell, confirmed he handled it professionally and correctly.
Now, as election time draws near, Rod”s opponents have focused on stirring up the hate and discontent of the masses through baseless insinuations and allegations against Rod Mitchell, until it appears the election is being waged largely over that boat wreck. Whatever your feelings are regarding the incident or the prosecution of Dinius, Rod Mitchell is not the person responsible. To the contrary, your sheriff acted honorably, professionally, and exactly as expected under the circumstances. This is precisely the type of behavior I want in my sheriff. I urge you to look beyond the rumors and hate mongering and support Rod Mitchell with your vote.
I can only speculate that this had to be the toughest decision Jon has had to make as Lake County DA. When the decision involves the death of a person, it is magnified a hundredfold. Jon took his time and examined the case from every aspect, asked for clarification of a number of things, then made his decision based on the application of the laws, as he has sworn to do. Any decision was not going to appeal to about half of the people, since public sentiment seemed to be about 50-50 in the case.
Nevertheless, Jon”s decision was legally correct according to the reputable information available to him and the laws relating to manslaughter as I know them (Certainly the element of intent precluded anything more serious from being considered). Only the person deemed by the DA, and normally the investigating agency, to be the “proximate cause” (i. e. largest contributing factor) can be prosecuted for manslaughter. As he explained at the time, in his opinion, the only person who could be charged was Dinius. Weber, the person who turned off the lights, the main contributing factor, could not be so prosecuted because Dinius was the person in legal control of the craft. Perdock was a major contributing factor, but not the proximate cause.
I have known Jon since he arrived in Lake County, and I also know his opponents, Doug Rhoades and Don Anderson. All three men are good guys, fun to be around, and have unquestioned morals. Whereas Jon has devoted his career to prosecuting criminals, both Doug and Don are criminal defense attorneys whose career goal is to prevent ?alleged” criminals from getting convicted. A necessary job, to be sure, but I like my District Attorney to be proficient at putting criminals in jail, not keeping them out.
Both Doug and Don favor plea bargaining or sentence bargaining as a means to lessen the court”s caseload. Personally, I don”t want an accused or convicted criminal to bargain for his sentence, not based on guilt or innocence, but upon which will benefit his early release from jail or prison. For the safety of my loved ones, I want convicted criminals to get the sentence the judge sees fit to impose, not a bargain cut between the DA and his former fellow defense attorneys.
So, in this instance, I am suggesting to my peers and supporters that they overlook any disappointment they may feel over the handling of one case, even an important one like the Dinius case, to look beyond that and stand behind Jon Hopkins, the man who will continue to assure criminals get treated like criminals, not game show contestants.
Sadly, this incident has many victims. Tragically, nothing is going to bring back Lynn Thornton. Similarly, nothing is going to make Bismarck Dinius feel he was treated fairly in Lake County. However, I can assure you that for those who have been demanding Russ Perdock”s head on a platter, he has certainly not been overlooked in the outcome. Once a highly respected, high-ranking official within the Sheriffs Department, one who many, including myself, once thought would himself be Sheriff someday, has not gone unscathed. He has lost much also. He is always been a man of unquestioned integrity, who was active in his community, involved with community service organizations, and heavily into scouting and other youth activities. Being hounded and vilified in the press, by the likes of Dan Noyes and others, has cost Lake County one of its most promising stars whose contributions will go unfulfilled in the interim. I hope and pray that the community will cease the unproductive hatefulness aimed at him, and embrace Perdock as yet another victim of this sad chapter in Lake County history, and allow him to heal and rekindle the spirit and enthusiasm to again step into a significant role in the community. We need more leaders like that, even those who have made mistakes.
I appreciate the opportunity to exercise my first amendment rights.
Steve Davis
Lakeport
