LAKEPORT — Five investigators testified Thursday at the Lake County Courthouse during the third day of the Thomas Loyd Dudney attempted murder trial.
Judge Arthur H. Mann presided. Deputy district attorney Art Grothe represented the Lake County District Attorney”s Office and attorney Doug Rhoades represented Dudney.
Dudney faces 11 felony charges, along with many special allegations, for his alleged role in an Oct. 20, 2009 incident in which Ronald Greiner was shot, tortured and hogtied.
The 59-year-old Fulton resident is charged with attempted murder, simple and aggravated mayhem, torture, robbery, burglary, three types of assault, battery causing serious bodily injury and participating in a criminal street gang, The Misfits.
Greiner, who testified Wednesday, said he recognized one of the two attackers as a man he knew by the nickname KTron and later pointed to Dudney when asked if KTron was present in the courtroom.
Deputy Lyle Thomas of the Lake County Sheriff”s Office (LCSO) was the first witness to testify Thursday, completing the testimony he began Wednesday afternoon.
Thomas said that during the investigation he traveled at night to the property at which Greiner was living on South Main Street in Lakeport. “I was quite surprised how well lit the property was,” he said.
Greiner testified that he had no lights on inside his house that night and the main source of ambient light originated from floodlights at a neighboring car lot. Rhoades stipulated during Thomas”s testimony Thursday that the car lot was about 240 yards away from Greiner”s house, according to a Google Maps measurement.
LCSO evidence technician Elona Porter testified next, saying she collected evidence from the scene for nearly 12 hours on Oct. 20, 2009.
Porter discussed finding blood-like substances on several items inside and outside the house, including several trash bags on the lawn near where Greiner was found. Investigators found a boot mark on the front door and two grocery bags containing marijuana inside the house, Porter said.
Porter said she also found a small spot of an apparent biological substance on the dashboard of a Chevrolet station wagon, while examining the seized vehicle in Sonoma County.
The jury heard during subsequent testimony that Dudney owned a Chevrolet station wagon. The substance was given to a California Department of Justice laboratory for further analysis, Porter said.
Sgt. Jim Naugle of the Sonoma County Sheriff”s Office testified briefly before lunch. Naugle said he knew Dudney went by the moniker KTom.
Naugle also testified that in September 2009 he searched a house on Greeneich Avenue in Santa Rosa and found several items, such as addressed mail, which indicated that Dudney resided there.
Greiner said Wednesday that he met Dudney, who he knew as KTron, at a house off of Marlow Road in Santa Rosa. Greeneich Avenue connects to Marlow Road, Naugle said.
Detective Nicole Costanza of the LCSO was the fourth witness called. She testified that she responded to the South Main Street property on Oct. 20, 2009.
Costanza described executing a search warrant at a house in West Sacramento with other investigators. The LCSO seized a computer from that house, which was occupied by an identified member of The Misfits, Costanza said.
Grothe played a recording of a 15-minute phone conversation during Costanza”s testimony. The detective said the phone call was recorded on Nov. 4, 2009 by an automated system at the Lake County Jail and that authorities identified the male voice as Thomas Dudney”s and the female voice as that of Cheryl Ann Reese.
The conversation focused on several issues, including Dudney”s finances, the whereabouts of his Chevrolet station wagon and the validity of the evidence against him.
Dudney told Reese that a woman named Brandi Morris lied to investigators about the Oct. 20, 2009 incident, including that Dudney was involved with others planning the attack nearly two weeks in advance.
At one point in the conversation, Dudney told Reese that “it doesn”t look good for me” with what Morris told investigators. He later told Reese that she should tell a male friend that “he needs to get rid of her (Morris).” No specifics of any intended threat or intimidation were discussed during the conversation.
Morris at one point lived at the same house as the male friend, Costanza said. Rhoades told the jury in his opening statement that Dudney”s recorded remark could have implied that Dudney wanted his friend to kick Morris out of the house.
Dudney, Reese and a third man, Joseph Deshetres, had been charged with two felonies, including intimidating a witness. The charges against Dudney in that case were dismissed in June, while Reese and Deshetres each pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of attempting to intimidate a witness as aides or abettors.
Detective Lucas Bingham of the LCSO was the final witness called Thursday. He said he participated a witness intimidation investigation related to the Dudney case in January 2010.
Bingham said he searched a house on Gloria Drive in Santa Rosa, at which Deshetres resided. In Deshetres bedroom, several references to The Misfits were found, including a wood carving reading “Misfits” and a light switch face plate with “MFFM” written on it, which stood for “Misfits Forever, Forever Misfits,” according to Bingham. No photographs or anything depicting or referencing Dudney were found in the Gloria Drive house, Bingham said.
The trial will reconvene Tuesday at 9 a.m. in Department 2.
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.
