All's quiet, and then ....

I didn't hear from ADA Tim Stoen again for some weeks, then emailed him asking what was happening -- Neither the Red Giant nor I had heard from the defense. Could I assume they had switched tactics?

Yes, he wrote, they had. A new defense attorney had gotten a statement from the defendant's wife saying she had seen contact between jurors and witnesses on several occasions. She had not mentioned these to the judge during the trial, so Tim didn't think her statement would be accepted now. Attached to that statement was another request to have juror information made public.

Tim sent me three other documents -- a copy of his opposition to disclosing juror information, citing the murder of witness Michael Peacock, which I read with complete shock;
a declaration by the DA's investigator as to the condition of the Big Red Dog, implying that the defendant's wife had committed perjury in describing where the toy had been;
and a declaration by a gang expert that
1) through Richard Peacock and his Peckerwood connections, the defendant had likely involvement in the Aryan Brotherhood white supremacist gang; and 2) among the photos retrieved from the defendant's camera was one of him posing in front of a speedboat with the license plate "Rogers Klan," suggesting another white supremacist connection.

Tim said he would argue against the release of our info, that our safety would be threatened.

Well, I was deeply affected by the turn this had taken -- the murder of the shooter's brother, Aryan Brotherhood and Klan connections? It was all feeling very surreal.

I wrote back to Tim Stoen that my information had already been made public. Did I need to worry? (I was worrying already, of course.)

No, he said, for one thing this was all worst-case strategy. For another, if Michael Peacock was killed for testifying, it would have been planned while the defendant was still out on bail. Now he is confined to the Mendocino County Jail, and his calls and visits are closely monitored.

Indeed the judge denied the request to have (everyone else's) information released. The story ran in the Ukiah Daily Journal, and is for some reason now unavailable in a search.