Marcus Caldwell pled guilty to forcible rape and three counts of penetration with a foreign object, along with one count of first degree burglary on the morning set for his jury trial, Tuesday, November 12th. Details of the crime did not come out in court – one of the chief reasons for a plea bargain is so the victim doesn’t have to re-live the rape in front of a room full of strangers, a jury, and answer the insinuating questions of a callous defense attorney, but what’s called a “factual basis” for the plea was read, to wit: “In the early hours of January 21st, 2018, Caldwell entered a residence [address not to be disclosed] on Tomki Road in Willits with intent to commit sexual acts and forcibly raped one Jane Doe [whose identity is to be protected] and on three separate occasions penetrated Ms. Doe with a foreign object.”
Mr. Caldwell is facing 16 years in prison, eight years for the rape, and two years each for the four remaining counts. Judgment and Sentencing was set for December 19th 9:00 am.
Dejoa Rayshawn Larue forestalled a jury trial Tuesday, November 12th, by pleading guilty to bribing a correctional officer to let him sneak dope into the jail. The details of the incident never comes out in a plea bargain, and perhaps that’s why both sides agreed to “a factual basis” for the plea to be put on the record, and Mr. LaRue’s lawyer, former prosecutor Kevin Davenport admitted, in so many words, that yes, his client had offered to pay Correctional Officer Lugor (sp?) $1,000 to let him bring the (unspecified) drugs into the jail.
Mr. LaRue and his co-defendants, Jakell Watts and Eural Strickland, were scheduled to be sentenced on this same day on the underlying charge — robbing the Rite-Aid in Willits of enough narcotics to anesthetize a heard of elephants — but the presentencing investigation and report needed a psychological evaluation of the defendants, so it was put over to December 19th, and Mr. LaRue will be sentenced of December 5th for both the underlying charge and the bribery charge.
Ain’t you heard of herds of nerds? I thought not.