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Lake County’s air has remained in the good classification with healthful air and blue skies for more than two weeks, Deputy Air Pollution Control Officer Doug Gearhart reported Wednesday.
Although hazy, the air quality is expected to be in the good to moderate range for the next couple days, said Gearhart, with the normal blue skies expected to return by Friday.
Gearhart said the Air Quality Index on Tuesday was 80; an AQI above 50 would be in the moderate range.
On Wednesday the the AQI was trending moderate, but improving. The AQI for particulate is expected to remain well below 101 where an unhealthy alert is given.
Some residual smoke is returning to the Lake County Air Basin from many uncontrolled fires burning in the north part of the state, Gearhart reported. Progress is being made on wildfires burning on federal land but much of the complexes are in rugged and remote areas.
Winds are expected to be variable from the west northwest Thursday, switching back to a more westerly pattern, ranging from southwest to northwest by Friday, according to Gearhart. The northerly winds are contributing to smoke intrusions in the Lake County Air Basin from these ongoing uncontained large wildfires.
Residual smoke can be expected to remain throughout areas of Northern California on occasion, including Lake County, though at a much reduced level, until the lightning Complex wildfires are contained, Gearhart said.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN UPDATED.
CLEARLAKE – Services for a Clearlake Marine killed in Afghanistan late last month will be held this week.
Lance Corporal Ivan Wilson died July 21 in southern Afghanistan, as Lake County News has reported.
His mother, Denise Wilson, said funeral services for him will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. at Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Clearlake, to be followed by burial at Lower Lake Cemetery.
Jones and Lewis Mortuary in Lower Lake reported it will hold a closed casket visitation for Wilson on Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Wilson's body is being brought from Dover, Delaware on Thursday, according to his family.
A motorcade will move through Clearlake at about 3 p.m. on Thursday, said California Highway Patrol Officer Mike Humble.
Two CHP cruisers, six Patriot Guard motorcycle riders, family members and several Marine vehicles will take part in the procession, said Humble.
Clearlake Police Lt. Craig Clausen said a special public tribute area has been set up at Austin Park, at Lakeshore Boulevard and Olympic Drive.
The public is being asked to park at Haverty Field next to Austin Park, where they can gather to watch the procession as it slowly passes, Clausen said.
“We're trying to keep it safe,” he said.
Humble said some roads around Austin Park will be closed to accommodate the motorcade's movement.
For the Saturday funeral, Humble said CHP and Lake County Sheriff's deputies will conduct traffic control on Highway 53 to allow the motorcade through as it passes from the mortuary to the church and then, finally, to the cemetery. Five CHP units have been assigned to the event.
Clausen said Clearlake Police will handle traffic control within the city limits.
Humble said law enforcement planning for the motorcade and funeral has been taking place over the last two weeks, with a final briefing planned for Thursday morning.
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Sara Rief worked with Stuart Hanlon to defend 23-year-old Renato Hughes Jr., who was charged with the deaths of friends Rashad Williams and Christian Foster on Dec. 7, 2005, allegedly because the three were part of a violent break-in.
District Attorney Jon Hopkins alleged that the three men were part of a “crime team” whose violent actions during an attempt to steal medical marijuana from homeowner Shannon Edmonds resulted in death.
Even though it was Edmonds who pulled the trigger, Hughes' alleged participation in the break-in triggered prosecution under the provocative act theory for the deaths which, the theory holds, he allegedly helped cause.
Last Friday, Hughes was acquitted of the murder charges, as well as robbery and attempted murder, although he also was found guilty of burglary and assault with a firearm because the jury considered him to be aiding and abetting the crime. Another charge relating to assault causing great bodily injury resulted in a hung jury.
“We obviously are ecstatic at the outcome,” said Rief.
Hughes, she added, has been waiting a long time for the not guilty verdict.
Had be been convicted of the two homicides, Hughes was facing life without possibility of parole, said Rief.
District Attorney Jon Hopkins said Monday that Hughes was looking at about eight years in prison plus a strike for the burglary based on the convictions.
Sentencing in the case will take place on Sept. 9 in Martinez in Judge Barbara Zuniga's courtroom, where the trial was moved after a judge granted a change of venue motion.
Hughes already has served more than two and a half years in jail since being arrested following the deaths. If Zuniga gives him the maximum eight-year sentence he's only looking at a year and a half in prison at most, said Rief.
However, Rief noted that according to sentencing guidelines the judge would have to cite extraordinary circumstances to sentence Hughes to the maximum term.
Rief said Hughes is ready to appeal the two charges of which he was convicted.
Hopkins had said Monday that he considered the two guilty verdicts on the more minor charges a rejection by the jury of Hughes' claim that he wasn't involved in the crime.
To an extent, Rief agreed, although she said the jury “obviously thought his involvement was very minimal.”
In questioning jurors for about an hour Monday, Rief said they had some trouble with Hughes' comments on the stand, and found some of his answers somewhat evasive.
“The convictions do show that they did not believe the entirety of what he said,” she noted.
The jury, she said, did a very good job with a very confusing case. She said the provocative act law has been around since the mid 1960s, but there isn't a lot of case law on it. Nevertheless, the all-female jury worked diligently to move through the difficult trial.
“Listening to them, they were really careful in their deliberations,” she said.
She said Hopkins indicated to the jury on Monday that he did not think he would attempt to retry Hughes on the lesser charge. If convicted it would only mean another year and a half in prison, said Rief.
With Hughes' trial over, attention has been turning to Edmonds, who shot Williams and Foster as they ran from his home. Rief said the National Association for the Advance of Colored People is looking at ways to get a case filed against Edmonds.
Likewise, she and Hanlon have felt from the beginning that Edmonds should be considered for charges. She cited his chasing after the men and shooting Foster while he was on the ground, and said by doing so he was taking justice into his own hands.
“We do feel that the wrong person was charged in this case,” she said.
Seeing Edmonds charged in Lake County isn't likely, said Hopkins.
Hopkins said he and the defense had a tremendous disagreement about what the evidence showed with regard to Edmonds' actions and the shots fired.
Hopkins said the jury agreed with his interpretation of the physical evidence that the fatal shot to Christian Foster came while he was ducking down to go out a sliding glass door.
When Hopkins' predecessor, Gary Luck, was still district attorney, he carefully considered whether or not to charge Edmonds.
“His conclusion that I agree with is that we would not be able to get a unanimous jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Shannon Edmonds did not fear for his safety and the safety of his family,” said Hopkins.
He explained that just before the shootings occurred, Dale Lafferty, the then-17-year-old son of Edmonds' girlfriend Lori Tyler, had just been viciously beaten by a baseball bat, an act that left him with permanent brain damage. Seeing the teen so badly hurt caused Edmonds to “lose it,” Hopkins said.
Edmonds himself also had been hit in the face with a shotgun. “The shotgun was out in the dark with these guys, getting away,” said Hopkins, with Edmonds not knowing if they would attack again.
“Somebody tell me how I'm going to convince a jury to convict him,” said Hopkins.
While many people have tried to cast the case in terms of race, Hopkins said he's heard from many others who believe Edmonds was defending his home and family.
“It's a convenient way to try and avoid the real issue in the case,” Hopkins said.
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Delia Smith, 34, died after being hit at about 10:40 p.m. Sunday as she walked along Highway 29 south of Doten Road near the Konocti Conservation Camp, the California Highway Patrol reported.
CHP Officer Adam Garcia said that it appears that Smith stepped into the traffic lane just before she was hit by a Kia SUV driving northbound.
He said CHP is trying to determine if Smith's moving into the traffic lane was intentional. Garcia added that a toxicology report also is pending.
Officer Randy Forslund is investigating the incident, Garcia said.
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