Posted on 01/20/2006 9:14:01 AM PST by barj
Police testimony at hearing for surviving suspect describes home invasion By GLENDA ANDERSON THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
CLEARLAKE - Two men killed during a home-invasion robbery last month were shot from behind, police testified Wednesday during a preliminary hearing for the lone surviving suspect.
Shannon Edmonds of Clearlake, who police say shot the two men seven times, hasn't been charged with a crime.
Investigators say Edmonds opened fire with a 9mm handgun after three men smashed a glass door, entered his home, punched his girlfriend and hit her 17-year-old son on the head with a metal baseball bat.
Police believe the robbers were looking for marijuana.
Edmonds said he was protecting his family but the mother of Rashad Williams of Pittsburg, one of the men shot to death, said she wasn't convinced.
"This man shot my son in cold blood," Sheila Burton said Wednesday during a break in the hearing, noting that Williams, 21, and Christian Foster, 22, of San Francisco were shot from behind.
Police confirmed her statement in their testimony.
The hearing, which continues today, will determine whether Renato Hughes Jr., 21, of San Francisco is held for trial. He was arrested a few hours after the shooting at the nearby home of Williams' grandmother.
Hughes, who wasn't injured, is charged with murder, attempted murder, home invasion robbery and other felonies. Under state law, he can be held liable for the deaths of Foster and Williams if they were killed while committing a crime.
Police testified that Williams was shot twice in the back and Foster was shot five times, three times in the leg and twice in the torso. The men fell about 30 feet from Edmonds' home.
Hughes has been tied to the robbery by blood-spattered jeans and a shirt found at the home of Williams' grandmother. His wallet was found inside a car belonging to Foster's father, which was parked near Edmonds' home.
Edmonds, 31, was questioned after the Dec. 7 shooting and prosecutors say they haven't decided whether he will be charged with a crime.
Hughes' attorney is seeking to compel him to testify during the preliminary hearing.
Police testified that there were five, gallon-sized bags of processed marijuana in Edmonds' house, along with a half-bucket of freshly picked pot.
Edmonds has said that he is a certified user of marijuana for medical purposes.
According to autopsy reports, Foster and Williams had THC, a component of marijuana, in their systems, Lake County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Russ Perdock said.
Police say the men were armed with a shotgun and a baseball bat when they entered Edmonds' home.
The shotgun hasn't been found though the bat was recovered at Edmonds' home.
Dale Lafferty, the son of Edmonds' girlfriend, was in a coma for weeks after the baseball bat attack, relatives said.
He now appears to be conscious but is unable to walk or communicate, according to grandparents Frank and Debbie Kester, who attended Wednesday's hearing.
Edmonds' girlfriend, Lorie Tyler, told police she was awakened by a crash, then screamed to awaken Edmonds as two men entered their bedroom.
One man threw her on the floor and punched her in the face several times while Edmonds tried to wrestle the shotgun away from the other man, according to police testimony.
Tyler got free and ran to the living room for the phone. While she was there, one of the robbers reportedly demanded: "Where's the weed?"
Hughes' mother, Judy Hughes, said there's no proof her son was at Edmonds' home, a contention being pursued by defense attorney Stephen Carter.
"We believe in my brother's innocence," said Hughes' sister, Eleva Hughes, who teaches seventh grade in San Francisco.
Like Williams and Foster, she said, Hughes went to good schools, was brought up with good family values and was set to succeed in life.
He was active in several youth and community groups in San Francisco, she said.
If you get charged and I'm on the jury, you walk.
In a criminal case, sure, but he will lose something in a civil case.
It would be worth losing all my possesions to personally kill someone that harmed my wife or daughter.
Medical purposes or not, that is a LOT of weed.
Trminds me oof a Meatloaf song: Two out of three ain't bad.
They were just on their way to the ball park to ah, um, shoot some baseballs because they broke their clay target thrower.
LOL. Not at all.
It's a good thought though. FReegards.
I'd have to lie to get on and sound like a liberal. Cheers.
In SF, they're passing out those Pot Cards like flyers...
Perfect use of the double negative. Hey like Willy Nagin...
Back during the cold War a bunch of pacifists used to hold protests in front of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base every Hiroshima day. A bunch of us were out there counter-protesting. I think the sign I carried applies to this situation as well. "Peace through superior firepower."
New definition of "in cold blood": armed with a shotgun and baseball bat, having beaten one person into a coma. I guess Edmonds was supposed to tap them on the shoulder so they could be given a sporting chance to kill him.
Does it really matter which direction you shoot robbers from ?
Once they start the robbery the only thing that should be left to decide is how they die not if.
I don't know if she's a liberal...
But she is African-American, and certianly in denial, and a drama queen....
Her son is a convicted felon and would have been in jail if not for hiding out at Grandma's.
Grandma, by the way, turned in the surviving home invasion robber... God Bless her!
You folks have to realize that Glenda Anderson is one of the most truth twisting reporters to type in the region.
The facts are, the facts haven't been presented yet. It's PRELIMINARY.
The forensic evidence and physical evidence is yet to be submitted into evidence.
Blow hards like Ms. Anderson, and her editor, use a newspaper to trial and convict without the truth.
But like I told my son, Shannon, once Hughes is in the general population in prison, his rectum will be the size of a coffee can.
They like sweet young meat inside.
I'm wit you there.
I have jury duty next week...
Really? Wow. Congrats. ;-)
*stir stir stir the pot*
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