Another bombshell was dropped in the Bruce Sons case yesterday in a trial that has already had enough twists and turns to give a person whiplash. Here’s my quick synopsis:
- Loyal and hard working CHP officer, Richard Maxwell tries to arrest crazy wild eyed car thief, Bruce Sons, and is innocently gunned down in the process. The city mourns and a section of highway is named after the martyred officer.
- Crazy wild eyed car thief and his slightly less wild eyed step son claim self defense, but are still sent to the “big house” for murder thanks to the diligence of Assistant District Attorney Stephen Tauzer.
- Tauzer is killed by former co-worker Chris Hillis in a bizarre story of homosexuality and cover-ups. See The Lords of Bakersfield.
- Defense attorneys find out Maxwell had a history of problems on the jobs, including, “swearing at people during routine traffic stops and escalating stops with idle threats” and that this evidence was never turned over to the defense. Sons conviction is thrown out, and a new trial begins in 2005.
- Second (new) trial ends in a hung jury. The D.A.’s office decides to try again.
- Third (not so new) trial ends in a hung jury. D.A.’s office decides to try again. (Yawn!)
- Defense attorneys finally win their motion for a change of venue. Fourth trial is tentatively scheduled to be held in San Luis Obispo.
- Prosecutors finally admit Tauzer knew of Maxwell’s history and chose not to share the information, but still insist that he, “did nothing wrong except for lying to the jury.”
I think Robert Price sums up the whole thing very nicely in his blog post when he points out that the one thing we do know for sure is that the D.A.’s office still hasn’t apologized for wasting tax payer’s money.
What a mess.
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