It’s About Frigging Time

After a flurry of comments on Jerry Brown’s official Facebook page, California’s Attorney General announced that he is finally looking into what passes for justice in Lake County. Dozens upon dozens of ‘Facebookers’ have voiced their outrage over the ridiculous prosecution of Bismarck Dinius for the 2006 death of Lynn Thornton. Off-duty Sheriff’s Deputy Russell Perdock crashed his speedboat — at 40+ miles an hour — into the nearly motionless sailboat on which Dinius and Thornton were passengers. Because he’d had a few drinks and had his hand on the tiller, Dinius was seemingly used as a scapegoat to get the number two man in the Sheriff’s Department off the hook for vehicular manslaughter.

Dinius’ attorney, Victor Haltrom, has twice requested that Brown investigate apparent oddities and inconsistencies in the DA’s handling of the case, which Brown declined to do. But it seems voters’ voices are louder than that of blatant injustice because, in response to all the posts, he wrote "I’m talking to the DA and I’m looking into it. There’s conflicting claims — the preliminary hearing transcript is voluminous." We hope he doesn’t only speak to Lake County District Attorney Jon Hopkins, as that’s the same man who told us that "there is no way to prove beyond a reasonable doubt exactly how fast Perdock was going or that his speed was the cause of the collision."

In other news, Dan Noyes reports on his blog that Russell Perdock has been put on paid leave from the Sheriff’s Department. Of course no one would comment on why but it seems that the house of cards Lake County law enforcement officials has built is starting to crumble. Watch Dan Noyes’ blog and Twitter page to get the blow-by-blow of June 30’s hearing, and keep tabs on all the news on our Facebook page and right here.