LAKEPORT — Several Lake County Sheriff”s Office (LCSO) investigators testified Wednesday during the second day of Robby Alan Beasley”s preliminary hearing.
Judge Richard Martin presided. Attorney Stephen Carter represented Beasley and Deputy District Attorney Art Grothe represented the Lake County District Attorney”s Office.
Beasley, 30, and Elijah Bae McKay, 28, are charged with two counts of murder in connection with the deaths of Maine residents Frank Maddox, 32, and Yvette Maddox, 40. Beasley faces a third felony charge of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm.
The partially decomposed bodies of the married couple were found at the bottom of an embankment off of Morgan Valley Road in Lower Lake.
LCSO crime scene evidence technician Elona Porter testified for more than one hour, describing her observations at the site of the bodies” discovery on March 4.
Six spent 9-mm cartridges and four live 9-mm rounds were found in the vicinity of the Morgan Valley Road site, Porter said. McKay testified Tuesday that he sold an unregistered 9-mm pistol to Beasley in January 2010.
Porter also analyzed photographs she took at the scene on March 4, depicting the location of the discovery site, clothing found on and near the Maddoxes” bodies and items from inside their pockets.
LCSO Detective John Drewrey was the second witness called. Drewrey discussed obtaining phone records for cell phones known to belong to Beasley and McKay. He also secured records for the cell phone found on Yvette Maddox”s body.
Drewrey said he was present at the autopsies performed on the Maddoxes” remains. The forensic pathologist determined the causes of death for both Maddoxes to have been gunshot wounds to the head, Drewrey said.
LCSO Sgt. Jim Samples testified about his interactions with a bone reconstruction expert from the University of California Santa Cruz, who examined Yvette Maddox”s skull and found two distinct entry-exit points, showing that she had been shot twice in the head.
LCSO Deputy Lyle Thomas, a detective at the time, testified about being present when doctors conducted a blood draw on Beasley.
LCSO Detective Thomas Andrews was the final witness called Wednesday. He testified briefly about his interactions with a woman who claimed to know of a threat made by Beasley against the Maddoxes in January 2010.
The preliminary hearing ended for the day at 3 p.m.
A separate hearing regarding video-recordings of McKay”s Tuesday testimony, made and published online by Lake County News, was held immediately following the preliminary hearing”s end.
Elizabeth Larson, editor of Lake County News, filed a media request Tuesday morning to video-record portions of the preliminary hearing. The court granted the request later that morning.
Carter raised an objection Wednesday morning to that granting after noticing three snippets of McKay”s testimony included with a Lake County News article.
Grothe said the prosecution had no position on the matter.
Carter said in the media-access hearing that the court did not follow the rule of law by granting the request without informing all parties of the request. Advance notification by the court is required. The defense was not notified of the media request until Wednesday morning, Carter said.
Media requests to video-record court proceedings are also required to be filed at least five court days before said hearing, unless good cause can be shown. In California, news organizations cannot video-record, photograph or broadcast court proceedings without the court”s permission.
Larson said she made seven video-recordings Tuesday, totaling around 5 minutes, 15 seconds in length. All seven videos, which were snippets of McKay”s nearly two-hour testimony, were posted on YouTube and three were included on the Lake County News website.
The majority of the video snippets focused on portions of McKay”s testimony regarding the events of Jan. 22, which was the night McKay said the Maddoxes died.
Carter said the videos” presence online negatively impacted Beasley”s right to due process in Lake County because it could dissuade potential witnesses from coming forward, impact the future testimony of excluded witness and taint the jury pool.
No single video had more than 130 “views” as of 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to YouTube”s posted tracking, and the majority of the videos had less than 100 “views” at that time.
Larson argued that “the court acted appropriately” by granting her media request.
Martin said, “The court made a mistake” by granting the media request without notifying all parties. The defense could have objected to the request being granted and made an argument on the record had notification been afforded.
Martin ruled that Larson must remove all video-recordings of McKay”s testimony from Lake County News and YouTube by 8 p.m. Wednesday and forbade her from any future dissemination of the videos. Martin also prohibited any subsequent video recording of the preliminary hearing.
The preliminary hearing reconvenes today at 10 a.m. in Department 2.
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.
