In September 2016, my daughter Nichole Welborn was killed on Main Street in Lower Lake. The driver who killed her was Robert Wade Hitchcock, was driving under the influence of methamphetamines and driving on a suspended license.
Hitchcock crossed an entire lane of traffic to slam into my daughter and crush Nichole against her own car which killed her. She was parked in front of the feed store and had returned to her car to get something from her car.
Hitchcock was charged with second-degree murder and a number of other charges including one with special circumstances due to his previous DUI convictions. My family was looking forward to seeing Nichole"s killer face justice in a jury trial.
Any parent can imagine our horror when we learned that there would be no jury trial for my daughter's killer. I learned this from some people I still know that live in Lake County. I learned that Lake County Deputy District Attorney Susan Krones gave Hitchcock a real lenient plea deal that requires him to serve only two more years in prison.
The District Attorney's Office not only denied my daughter justice they did not have enough respect to inform me of the plea deal. When I called Deputy District Attorney Susan Krones, she stated to me that “she did not feel comfortable " with a jury trial.
Susan Krones not only dismissed my family’s concerns, she completely ignored and disrespected a former correctional officer of Lake County. Instead my daughter was judged by her instead of Hitchcock being judged by a jury of 12. If she is so uncomfortable with pursuing justice then maybe she needs to change her career choice.
District Attorney Don Anderson, whom I have known since 1985, signed off on this terrible miscarriage of justice. When Anderson became an attorney, I was his first client. We had talked about this very same type of incident in his office then and he agreed it was murder. I am so disappointed in his lack of integrity.
Susan Krones failed my daughter and failed the people of Lake County with this plea deal. She is unfit to serve as district attorney.
The voters of Lake County need to send her and all elected officials a loud and clear message at the ballot box on June 5 – no justice for victims of crimes means no job and no promotion.
Susan Krones and the district attorney have forgotten who they are supposed to represent, "us the voters".
Walter L. Welborn is a former Lake County, Calif., correctional officer who now lives in Utah.