Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published by “Bruce McEwen”

The Beer Made Me Do It

Joshua Ruoff’s trial for the murder of Timothy Sweeting ended in a verdict of guilty of first degree murder last Friday, despite his lawyer, Jan Cole-Wilson, telling the jury they couldn’t do it, that they…

Summertime Horror Story

The murder trial for Joshua Ruoff got under way last week after three days of intense jury selection, due to a reluctance on the part of those summoned to spend two weeks of their summer…

Court Notes

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.

Mr. Gonzales’s Dope Wagon

Miguel Gonzales, of La Quinta, was talking on his cell phone while driving and got pulled over by Deputy Craig Walker. Mr. Gonzales was high on heroin and he was driving someone else’s car —…

Coke Machine Bandito Rides Again

Joseph Wayne Mork, a face perennially in the booking logs, made fresh and urgent news over a year ago when he and his lame lookout, Frank Freitas, were brought up on charges of ripping off…

No Fools Like Old Fools

Harry Miller, 69, of Anchor Bay, was held to answer on two counts of attempted murder last week in Superior Court for first shooting his neighbor Paul Palastrini, 62, also of Anchor Bay, and then…

It Could Never Happen Here

The murder trial last week for Steven Ryan, 64, ended with a “lesser-included” verdict, hugely favorable to the defendant even though an eyewitness said the young black man, De'Shaun Davis, was on his knees with…

Commence Firing!

The sensational factionalism at the Ukiah Gun Club finally arrived in court last week, and some of the more shocking and lurid aspects of the case seemed almost to fly out the window as the…

-