LAKEPORT, Calif. – The case of a man who killed his wife in Lake County more than 30 years ago has been moved back to Lake County, with the first local hearing taking place on Monday morning in Lakeport.

 

Gerald Stanley, 66, claiming ill health, appeared via video conference from San Quentin State Prison, where he's been on death row since February 1984.

 

Stanley was convicted of shooting his wife, Cynthia Ann Rogers, in August 1980.

 

In March 2008 federal Judge Frank C. Damrell ruled there had been juror misconduct during the trial's death penalty phase because a female female juror who had been a domestic violence victim didn't disclose that to the court, as Lake County News has reported.

 

That's put Stanley's death sentence on stay and is leading to a retrospective competency hearing, which District Attorney Don Anderson estimated Monday likely will occur this summer.

 

Stanley's trial was moved to Butte County due to pretrial publicity, but earlier this year Judge Gerald Hermansen ruled the case could return to Lake County, and Stanley supported the move.

 

The case is being heard by retired Alameda County Superior Court Judge William McKinstry.

 

Anderson said most of the local superior court judges have recused themselves from hearing the case.

 

Retired Judge Robert Crone, who still hears cases locally, was the district attorney who prosecuted Stanley, with Judge Stephen Hedstrom also working in the Lake County District Attorney's Office at that time.

 

The other judges who recused themselves – Richard Martin and Andrew Blum – also served in the Lake County District Attorney's Office under Hedstrom's tenure as district attorney in the years following the Stanley case.

 

Stanley had previously asked to represent himself or to have Berkeley-based attorney Jack Leavitt represent him. Leavitt was appointed to the task at the Monday hearing.

 

Anderson said another hearing is planned for May 23, at which time he said that any stipulations he and Leavitt have in the case will be announced in preparation for moving forward with the competency hearing.

 

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