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Gerald Stanley, 65, has been on San Quentin's death row since February 1984, sent there for the August 1980 murder of his wife, Cynthia Rogers, in Nice, as Lake County News has reported.
He previously had been convicted of killing his first wife, Kathleen Rhiley, in 1975. Another wife, Diana Lynn Ramel, went missing on Feb. 14, 1980. He has claimed she died of a drug overdose but has offered to give up information about the location of her body in exchange for an execution date.
In March 2008, federal court Judge Frank C. Damrell ruled that a new hearing was needed to determine whether or not Stanley had been mentally competent during his trial's death penalty phase, due to a finding that a female juror who had been a domestic violence victim hadn't disclosed that fact to the court.
Stanley told Lake County News in a March 2009 phone interview that he and his attorneys had been aware of the woman's experience but had wanted to keep her on the jury anyway.
Nevertheless, the matter of Stanley's competency is moving forward to a hearing later this month in Butte County Superior Court, where Stanley's trial was moved in 1983 due to media coverage.
His death penalty also is on stay while the proceedings take place, according to Lake County District Jon Hopkins.
Hopkins said at a Tuesday hearing in Butte County – in which Hopkins appeared by phone and Stanley by video conference – Stanley made a Marsden motion. A Marsden motion is when a defendant tries to discharge their lawyer on allegations of incompetence or inadequate representation.
Stanley has tried before to fire his court-appointed attorney in Butte County, Dennis Hoptowit, to no avail, and he got the same outcome Tuesday when that motion was denied by Judge Gerald Hermansen, Hopkins said.
Hopkins said Stanley then made a Faretta motion to represent himself. But before that matter was ruled on Stanley, Hopkins, Hoptowit and the judge began talking and Stanley postponed his motion in favor of going forward with the hearing on the feasibility of a new competency hearing.
That will take place starting at 9 a.m. Dec. 13, Hopkins said.
He said Stanley agreed that the hearing didn't have to take place at San Quentin, but can be held in Oroville.
“I've got two witnesses that are going to testify that it is feasible to hold a retrospective competency trial and Stanley will appear by video conference,” said Hopkins.
Hopkins' two witnesses are a psychiatrist and a psychologist. He said neither has worked with Stanley previously.
“The issue of his competency in 1983 at the time of his competency trial is assisted a great deal by having a transcript of the entire trial and the proceedings around the trial,” said Hopkins, noting the Butte County Superior Court was able to locate the original transcript.
It's possible that Hermansen could make a decision Dec. 13 or hold over the hearing, Hopkins said.
If a retrospective hearing is ordered, Hopkins said Stanley has been talking about wanting a court trial – which will be quicker – and having it moved back to Lake County, which Hopkins said the penal code would allow.
But with Hopkins' term as district attorney set to end this month, it's unclear about the future of the case.
Stanley's issues have been the source of countless hearings, which have been handled by Hopkins since his time as chief deputy district attorney under Gary Luck. Hopkins said he has worked with about four deputy attorneys general who were assigned to the case.
Hopkins said he hopes to be successful at the feasibility hearing, which would clear the way for a retrospective competency trial.
“Who will do that I don't know,” he said.
District Attorney-elect Don Anderson, who is working to close down his private practice before beginning his transition later this month, said Wednesday he isn't up on where the case is currently, and that he and Hopkins haven't yet discussed the case.
As for keeping Hopkins on in a part-time capacity to handle the Stanley case, Anderson said, “It's definitely an option.”
However, he added, that he wants to keep as much work as possible in house at the District Attorney's Office in order to save money.
Hopkins said if the feasibility hearing is successful, it will be up to Anderson to decide whether or not to go forward on the competency trial. If he doesn't, then the death penalty is off the table.
In a fall debate, Anderson made mention of his support for the death penalty.
If Hopkins loses the competency hearing, the death penalty would be set aside, but that would allow for the retrying of the death penalty phase of Stanley's trial.
Anderson “hasn't asked me for my recommendation,” said Hopkins.
However, Hopkins – who has tried five death penalty cases in his career, including the Charles Craft and Jeffrey Duvardo cases in Lake County – said he has been in touch with Rogers' family and others involved in the case.
“My belief is we should go forward, have him found to have been competent back then and have the death penalty reinstated and sent back to the federal court for them to approve it,” he said.
Hopkins alleged that Stanley killed three of his four wives, and possibly another woman, and called him an “extremely manipulative and very dangerous” man who deserves the death penalty.
Anderson, formerly a Lake County Sheriff's deputy, noted that he was on duty the day that Stanley shot Rogers at her father's resort. Stanley, a hunting guide, shot her through the heart at long distance with a high-powered rifle.
The search for Stanley became one of the county's largest manhunts, as Lake County News has reported.
Anderson recalled taking part in the search.
He said of the Stanley case, “It's just kind of strange that after all of these years, it's still coming up.”
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