LAKEPORT >> At a court appearance last week, Judge Andrew Blum denied the request by Billy Mount and his attorney for a new trial. Instead, the matter was re-referred to probation for recommendation and sentencing was set for May 22.
Mount is facing 25 years to life in state prison for the 2015 murder of Steven Galvin in Clearlake.
The new trial had been requested because of alleged uncertainty in Galvin’s identification of the shooter.
During the murder trial, Deputy District Attorney Sharon Lerman-Hubert played footage from Clearlake Detective Ryan Peterson’s body camera as part of his testimony, which showed Peterson arriving at the scene and approaching Galvin, who was lying face down. On the tape Peterson is heard to ask Galvin who was responsible for his attack and he allegedly replied, “Cyclops,” also known as David Cox.
Cox, a Clearlake resident, testified that Mount told him he had shot Steven Galvin. Cox has been granted limited immunity in this case.
Mount’s recently hired Defense Attorney, David Kelvin, filed a motion for a new trial based upon this video. Judge Blum, who had presided over the jury trial, reviewed the motion and transcripts.
The Lake County Superior Court heard arguments from both counsels (Deputy District Attorney Art Grothe and Defense Attorney David Kelvin) and rebuttal arguments from Attorney Kelvin as the Court announced its ruling on the record.
A Lake County jury originally convicted Mount 0n August 10, 2016, of second-degree murder. The incident took place on July 2, 2015, outside of a home in the 15000 block of 35th Avenue in broad daylight.
At the time, the jury heard evidence that Clearlake resident Sean Whiteman told police that he was driving his white pickup truck with Mount as a passenger and that Mount had used a handgun to shoot and fatally wound Galvin.
Whitman led police to “the very gun that was used to kill Steven.”
Forensic experts were able to lift a fingerprint and DNA of Mount on an AC/CD CD case in Whiteman’s pickup, but experts were not able to lift a print or find DNA of Mount on the weapon.
