Court Notes

Thompson Retires, Adams Turns Reality On Its Head

Anthony Adams, Assistant Public Defender, at Board of Supervisors meeting, June 5, 2018:

“I'm here today to talk not only on behalf of the Union that I represent, the Mendocino County Public Attorneys Association, but also to advocate on behalf of the criminal justice system in general and specifically the Public Defender's Office. As the Board well knows the County has been making good-faith inroads to try to bring our agency up to a place where we can maintain and retain our folks. As each of you has heard many times it is extraordinarily difficult to find qualified individuals to come and do the work that we do at the level we do. And that matters from a fiscal standpoint as much as when we can't do the work we are forced to give that work to some outside agency who invariably will cost the county extraordinary sums of money by comparison. It doesn't seem that way at first blush because you are not paying pensions, you're not paying ongoing obligations, but the long-term ramifications of those decisions have fiscal consequences the likes of which are impossible to quantify until you see them in reality. The reality is that when you make substantial cuts to the Public Defender's Office by way of shifting the burden for increased salaries for the people in our office that do the work of a public defender, what you do is you put the entire agency in a position where it is untenable. We are about to lose Ms. Thompson. As all of you know she is entering retirement. And when she does that she is going to be going out of our county and taking with it an INSANE amount of institutional knowledge and experience the likes of which we cannot easily replace by a longshot. What does it mean in real terms? When we face capital crimes, when we have serious felonies that require her kind of expertise, that may no longer exist, and then they are going to go somewhere. That somewhere will likely be the Alternate’s office. And when the Alternate no longer exists or is diminished it would have to go to a conflict. This trickle-down effect has a deleterious consequence on all of us. It makes our jobs more difficult. It provides less accountability. It has a sustained impact, a ripple effect, on the totality of the criminal justice system, the very system that you lauded when we had our opportunity to come before the Board to be recognized for the drug awareness and the drug courts. That is a function of the work we do. When you awarded our District Attorney with a salary increase you spoke at great length about the value of the criminal justice system and its contribution in our community. None of those things stop being true when it comes to our office. We need your support. Let me be abundantly clear. Budgets are just like checkbooks, if you want to know where a person's priorities are, look where they spend their money. I would like to ask you and encourage you to consider the fact that when you make the Public Defender as part of the budget the single largest hit as a percentage you indicate to us that the Public Defender's Office is not a priority. I ask you to reconsider.”

THURSDAY, June 14, was the day that Public Defender Linda Thompson stepped down. As the readership knows, the Mighty AVA will not miss her, and since her significant other owns a tract of land larger than our County Seat, and her pension package, though modest by the standards of other County Dignitaries, she probably doesn’t need our blessing for her retirement to be complete and satisfying. So, who’s next? Ms. Thompson herself had hoped to put Assistant Public Defender Christiane Hipps, a recent hire — and why didn't she promote one of her stalwarts! — in place as an Interim Public Defender, but the fiscally astute Board of Supervisors saw through this ploy of Thompson’s to further feather her own nest, and put the nix on Hipps. Therefore the job is currently up for bid on line and to my limited knowledge only one local lawyer has taken a shot at it, and that would be Douglas Rhoades of the Office of the Alternate Public Defender. And just in case anyone should wonder, no matter how idly, what someone who sort of knows what's going on at the courthouse, speaking obliquely of myself, let me say this would be my choice. Here's why it should be Mr. Rhoades: He is competent, he is able, he is resourceful, he is diligent, he is outgoing, he is experienced, he is committed, he has both a sense of perspective and a sense of humor, he is local and has the respect of the judges (openly), and many of our local law enforcement officers (if I’m not mistaken), and (drudgingly) the district attorney – besides all that he looks like Donald Sutherland. My best recollection of his work was when he won a case against a particularly devious Deputy DA who has since moved on, thank Jah, Mad Dog Madow, over some heavy drug runners who used a kid to unconsciously be their "mule" — Mr. Rhoades got this kid acquitted and the jurors actually stood in line and shook both the defendant's hand and Mr. Rhoades' — it was one of the finest episodes of lawyering this reporter has ever seen. For the curious, other cases Mr. Rhoades has handled are lodged in the archive.

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Coan Sentenced

Alexander Coan was both sentenced and released today for his participation in the murder of Jamie Dawn Shipman by Alexander Coan’s mother, allegedly, Kelley Anne Coan on May 23rd around 10:00 am; following a preliminary hearing two weeks ago (which I missed, being sick in bed with a damn cold), Alexander Coan pled guilty to Accessory After the Fact for a stipulated two year term in local prison. The deal was worked out with Alexander Coan’s attorney, Tony Serra, and Deputy DA Scott McMenomey, due to the fact that Alexander Coan arrived after the murder had taken place and that he lied to the police saying that no, his mother did not own a gun. The first order of business this morning was to have Alexander Coan sign a form stating that he did not own any firearms.

After this was done, Mr. Shipman stood up and told the court that after he had found his wife’s body shot several times, Alexander Coan had walked up and confronted him. “The court says he’s not guilty of the murder, but I know he is,” Shipman said.

Shipman’s daughter then stood and said, “I know there’s no evidence to link him directly to the scene but I’ve seen him coming into court snickering and laughing … I hope when he does get out my family will be safe and we won’t have to go through this again.”

Tony Serra said his client had never come into court snickering or laughing – that “he’s always been very solemn from my perspective. Both sides agreed to a fair and equitable term of two years with credit for time served and he will be released today.”

Deputy DA McMenomey had asked for restitution in the amount of $2,364 for funeral expenses. Mr. Serra said his client shouldn’t have to pay it, and that his client was indigent.

Judge Cindee Mayfield sentenced Alexander Coan to the two years as per the stipulation with credit for time served – under the current system, Coan’s 382 days in custody will add up to 764 total credits for time served – and she imposed the restitution pointing out that an accessory after the fact was responsible and that indigence was no excuse.

After Alexander Coan was taken out, the Shipmans left, and it was plain they were not happy with the sentence. Alexander Coan’s mother, Kelley Anne Coan, is still awaiting trial, claiming she shot Mrs. Shipman in self-defense.

(Bruce McEwen)

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Crowningshield Sentenced

Andrew Crowningshield was sentenced last Thursday morning to 25 years to life in state prison for the murder of Autumn Johnson, the mother of their young son, at a turnout on Highway 1 near Little River last February; Mr. Crowningshield was sentenced to another 25 years to life for using a gun. Christine Burke and Victoria Shanahan, who made up the defense team, submitted on the report and recommendation from Probation, sensing no doubt that to say anything in front of a crowded courtroom full of friends and relatives of the victim would only add to the recriminations the District Attorney was ready to dispense. DA David Eyster then brought forth the victim’s mother, Mrs. Kristy Johnson who gave the court a long heart-felt statement that was accompanied by a great deal of crying in the audience. Then DA Eyster addressed the court saying, “We’ve had too much of what I call crocodile tears,” and, picking up Mr. Crowningshield’s letter of remorse and apology, Eyster ripped it in two and dropped the pieces on the floor. Eyster told the court that when Detective Luis Espinoza arrested Crowningshield he (Det. Espinoza) asked Crowningshield if he was sorry for what he did and Crowningshield answered, “No, it had to be done.”

Eyster continued, “He will soon be a number in an institution and I will no longer be around as the prosecutor when he comes up for parole, so I have lodged in the file for my predecessors a letter to oppose his release at any future date. Judge Ann Moorman said that a transcript of today’s proceedings would accompany the defendant to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and that in any event the Johnsons would be notified if Crowningshield were ever released.

Judge Moorman then addressed Crowningshield saying, “I got the call when this happened from an officer who is not easily affected – well, let me just say he sees a lot of horrific things — and this was one of the worst he’s seen, as was attested to by a lot of the bystanders; but where you are going, believe it or not, you are going to have a chance to do some good things – and I know from these letters from your family and people who know you that you are capable of it. But you, sir, were so enraged, so violent, and so furious that you were able to overcome all of your upbringing and shoot Autumn several times – not many people are capable of that… But your son will still be your son no matter what happens and there’s a way you can make sure he grows up to be an emotionally stable person, and you are going to meet some interesting people who will help you achieve that.”

Out in the hall I encountered a man who tried to provoke me about, “Did you get anything good?” meaning juicy for the press; little did he know I very nearly shot my own ex and still sometimes wonder if it wouldn’t have been for the best if I had. You see, gentle reader, I don’t actually believe in all these so-called gifts of the Enlightenment, that the best of all possible worlds is ruled by reason, and all those idealistic notions handed down to us by Pascal and Descartes; but this is no place for a philosophical digression and I only put in the last comment because of my brief encounter with a man who must feel the whole world thinks he raised some kind of monster.