Fatal Boat Crash Headed To Trial

Bismarck Dinius has been dealt a serious blow. He found out in court today that he will stand trial in the death of Lynn Thornton of Willows. She was a passenger on the sailboat Dinius was steering one night in April 2006, when a powerboat driven by the number two official in the Lake County Sheriff’s Department slammed into them. A judge ruled today Dinius should be tried for manslaughter because the navigation light on the stern or back of the boat was off at the time of the crash. That issue is in dispute, and most members of the sailing community are outraged that the powerboat driver isn’t being charged because of his high rate of speed at night. Dinius told me today, “I can’t imagine that the facts of this case if presented to a jury would convict me. I have to believe in that, I really do.” He’ll be arraigned in July and receive his trial date, most probably in September.

Lake County Superior Judge Richard Martin said in court today that Bismarck Dinius, because of his experience as a sailor, should have known that powerboats speed around Clear Lake at night. Martin says Dinius should have made sure his sailboat’s stern light was on. The judge apparently rejected testimony from two defense experts that the filaments in the sailboat’s light bulbs show they were on a millisecond before the crash. He relied on people who were in the area that night – two teenage girls who were socializing on shore, two fishermen in a boat nearby – who said they didn’t see the sailboat’s lights. We explored problems with their stories in past reports and blogs.

The man driving the powerboat, Lake County Chief Deputy Sheriff Russell Perdock, testified today he could see lights on shore across the lake, but that he could only see objects on the water about ten feet away. Perdock said there’s no speed limit on Clear Lake even at night, but that he understood state and federal safe boating laws apply. In Perdock’s words, “To the best of my recollection, it’s that you’re able to either avert your course or be able to stop.” Defense attorney Victor Haltom asked, "Were you traveling at a speed where you could have slowed down in a distance of ten feet?” Perdock answered, “No.” Perdock was traveling a reported 40 to 50 miles an hour that night.

In his closing arguments, Haltom said, “I think it’s just matter of common sense that had Chief Deputy Perdock had been driving his boat at a reasonable speed, maybe even 15-20 mph, we don’t have a dead person in this case, we have an accident, maybe some injuries. … The ringing, searing question that any reasonable observer of this case has to be asking is why is Perdock not being charged with vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence?”

By law, Perdock could still face charges. Knowing the Lake County District Attorney's position on the case, it's not likely. We’ll see what a jury decides in Bismarck Dinius' case this fall.

Cliffhanger in Clear Lake

The preliminary hearing into the fatal boat crash on Clear Lake resumes next week. The defense has been trying to make the case that the Lake County Sheriff’s Department gave preferential treatment to one of its own. Russell Perdock is the Chief Deputy Sheriff, the number two official in the department. In April 2006, he was driving his powerboat at least 40 miles an hour at night, when it slammed into a sailboat. A passenger on the sailboat, Lynn Thornton of Willows, died from her injuries. The local prosecutor didn’t charge Perdock. He charged the man who happened to be steering the sailboat at the time with manslaughter – he had been drinking and the district attorney argues that the sailboat’s navigation lights were off. Two prominent experts have already testified that the filament on the sailboat’s light bulbs show they were on at the time of impact.

Now, the cliffhanger.

Lake County Sheriff’s Sgt. James Beland testified, that night on shore after the crash, he suggested giving Perdock a breath test, but that a superior ordered him to drive the Chief Deputy to the hospital for a blood test instead. Beland testified he watched a technician draw Perdock’s blood. Then, Beland says he left the hospital in his squad car with Perdock and the blood sample. He testified he couldn’t remember if the sample was in the passenger compartment with Perdock or in the trunk. Beland testified he drove around with Perdock for an hour – he couldn’t say where they went – before he dropped Perdock off and finally deposited the blood sample at the Lower Lake Substation.

Late in the day, Russell Perdock finally took the stand, but for just a few minutes before the court closed for the day. He contradicted Beland’s testimony, saying the sergeant didn’t drive him home from the hospital that night. He couldn’t recall riding around in Beland’s squad car with the blood sample. So, who’s telling the truth? We should find out more when the preliminary hearing picks up again June 11th.

By the way, on the issue of the sailboat’s lights, the defense called William Chilcott. He’s the marine safety expert and life-long speedboat racer who studied the sailboat’s light bulbs under a microscope and concluded the navigation lights were on. Wes Dodd also testified. He’s perhaps the foremost marine accident reconstruction expert in the Western United States; he actually taught Lake County Sheriff’s marine investigators how to do their job. Dodd firmly places the blame for the accident and for Thornton’s death with Chief Deputy Russell Perdock.

In response to some of our viewers – yes, Russell Perdock is still the Chief Deputy Sheriff of Lake County.

Read Tiger Attack Autopsy

The San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office has finally released a copy of Carlos Sousa’s autopsy. He’s the young man who was mauled to death by a Siberian tiger at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day 2007.

The report confirms the cause of death: “Blunt force injuries of the head and neck (predatory cat bite(s)).” The evidence of the mauling is devastating – Sousa suffered many punctures and scratches to his head, neck and chest. The tiger fractured his skull and spine, and cut his jugular vein. Tests on the seventeen-year-old’s blood came back positive for alcohol and marijuana.

The document confirms what we had heard before – the SFPD CSI Unit delivered specimens from the tiger to the Medical Examiner’s Office for investigation. The seven pouches kept in Freezer Box #2 contain the tiger’s head, paws and tail. On January 5th, one of the M.E. Office’s doctors examined the head, took tooth impressions, and found one of the bullets fired by police officers that evening. The report concluded it entered through the tiger’s forehead.