LAKEPORT, Calif. – Two men who reached plea agreements with the District Attorney's Office for their part in a June 2013 home invasion robbery and shooting were sentenced this week in Lake County Superior Court, while a third man convicted in the case is seeking a new trial.
Clearlake residents Sean Douglas Foss, 22, and Tyler Christopher Gallon, 20, were sentenced on Wednesday after having entered pleas last month for their involvement in the June 26, 2013, home invasion at the home of Ronnie and Janeane Bogner in Clearlake Oaks.
The Bogners' adult son, Jacob, was shot in the leg, and Foss and Gallon – along with Dion Andre Davis, convicted earlier this year for his involvement, including having shot Jacob Bogner – fled the scene, later leading Clearlake Police Lt. Tim Celli on a high speed chase as well as a foot pursuit during which authorities said Davis shot at Celli.
A fourth individual, Jenaya Jelinek, Davis' girlfriend, drove the men from the scene. She reached an agreement with the District Attorney's Office in 2014 to plead to second-degree burglary and has since been released.
District Attorney Don Anderson said Foss was sentenced to nine years in state prison for armed robbery, and assault with a deadly weapon on Jacob Bogner and on Celli.
Gallon was sentenced to four years and four months in state prison for armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon on Celli, auto theft, resisting an executive officer and vandalism, according to Anderson.
Due to the violent nature of the crimes, both men must serve 85-percent of their sentences before they will be considered eligible for parole, Anderson said.
“Davis is still another story,” said Anderson.
In March, a jury found the 28-year-old Davis guilty of armed robbery, burglary, assault with a firearm on Jacob Bogner, assault with a semiautomatic firearm on Bogner, mayhem on Bogner, grand theft of a firearm, vehicle theft, vandalism, making threats of violence to Celli, assault with a semiautomatic firearm on Celli, assault with a deadly weapon on Celli, negligent discharge of a firearm, accessory to a robbery or burglary, conspiracy to commit a robbery or residential burglary, and found true 21 special allegations for use of a firearm, inflicting great bodily injury on Bogner and entering an inhabited dwelling in concert with others.
Tried along with Davis was his brother, Gregory Elarms. The jury deadlocked on all 10 charges against Elarms – robbery, burglary, two firearms assaults on Bogner, two firearm assaults on Celli, grand theft, vehicle theft, vandalism and conspiracy. The District Attorney's Office later elected to drop the case against Elarms.
Davis originally was set to be sentenced on May 20, but his defense attorney, Bill Conwell, said after the trial that he planned to file a motion for a new trial.
When reached for comment on the case, Conwell said he did not want to offer any statement until after the new trial motion is filed.
Anderson said Conwell has until Nov. 16 to file his new trial motion. Anderson has until Dec. 18 to reply, with Conwell given until Jan. 11 to issue a reply to Anderson's response.
While new trial motions aren't uncommon, Anderson said there have been a number of issues that have complicated this case, including numerous motions filed by Conwell in an effort to get personnel information on sheriff's Det. Doug Dahmen and evidence, Anderson said.
The motions regarding personnel matters were unsuccessful, but the motions seeking actual recordings of interviews with witnesses were granted, Anderson said.
Dahmen had been one of the detectives on the case, and his performance was a key issue for the defense during Davis' and Elarms' trial.
In particular, he had failed to follow up on alibi information for another man, Dexter Currington, who at one point had been taken into custody in the case. Dahmen also took six months to write a report on the jailhouse interview in which Currington gave him that alibi information. Currington later was cleared through the efforts of his attorney, David Markham.
During the trial, Dahmen also gave numerous conflicting statements about why he handled the case the way he did.
Because of Dahmen's credibility issues in the Bogner home invasion case, “He has become a Brady officer,” Anderson said.
The term “Brady” refers to the 1963 US Supreme Court Case Brady v. Maryland, which requires the government to disclose to defendants in criminal cases any information that could potentially clear them, including information about the credibility of law enforcement officers involved in their cases.
Anderson also had placed former Sheriff Frank Rivero on the list of Brady officers with credibility issues due to a finding that he had lied about shooting at an unarmed man during a 2008 incident.
Dahmen’s Brady issue has been a major complication in the case, Anderson said.
In response to a California Public Records Act request, Lake County Human Resources Director Kathy Ferguson told Lake County News that Dahmen is no longer employed with the county of Lake, with his last day being April 10.
Anderson said Davis is scheduled to return to court at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 26, at which time there will be a hearing on the new trial motion.
If that new trial motion is unsuccessful, Davis will be sentenced at that time, Anderson said.
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