LAKE COUNTY — Claims that the defense was not ready to proceed in the case of Reginald J. Patillo, who is accused of robbing a group of people in Clearlake during an alleged marijuana transaction, forced the court to delay the upcoming trial to August.
Judge Robert L. Crone made the decision to delay trial Friday morning, after initially addressing a motion by defense attorney Thomas Quinn on Monday.
Crone said he understood Deputy District Attorney Art Grothe”s concerns about the delays causing hardships for the prosecution”s case, but ultimately decided to grant the motion. He added that based the defense”s declaration, he felt he had to grant the continuance.
Quinn said in court on Monday that he did not think he could provide Patillo with “competent representation” if the trial moved forward next week as planned. He said that if the court did not grant the continuance, he would have to ask to be relieved from his involvement in the case.
He further said that during the last two months he had been busy with two trials as well as dozens of other cases.
Crone said on Friday that he did not like the way the situation unraveled, but given the position he was in he felt it necessary to grant the motion.
Grothe opposed the motion on Monday and said the prosecution was granted a continuance roughly six weeks ago under similar grounds. On that occasion, Quinn said he was trying to find an eyewitness identification expert to challenge the prosecution”s evidence that led to the identification of Patillo during the investigation.
Crone said on Monday that he was not ready to make a decision and delayed ruling until Friday.
Patillo was charged with eight felony counts, including first-degree burglary.
The charges date back to Nov. 28 when Patillo and two other people allegedly pulled out firearms and robbed the three victims — Anthony Brooks, Ryan Myer and Rachelle Williamson — during an alleged marijuana transaction and social encounter at a Clearlake Apartment.
Brooks reportedly met Patillo during a flight from Denver to San Francisco, during which they talked about marijuana and Brooks invited Patillo to Clearlake, according to police reports.
At the time, Brooks reportedly only knew Patillo as “Money” or “Money Bags.”
Patillo was reportedly identified by the victims by multiple money-themed tattoos, according to a preliminary hearing testimony. He was also identified on in a photo lineup where the tattoos were blocked out.
The other two suspects remain at-large.
Patillo is scheduled to face trial on Aug. 13. A trial assignment hearing was scheduled for Aug. 8 and a settlement conference was scheduled for July 28.
Isaac Brambila is an associate editor for Lake County Publishing. Reach him at 900-2020 or at ibrambila@record-bee.com.
