LAKEPORT, Calif. – The trial of two men accused of taking part in a June 2013 home invasion robbery and shooting at a Clearlake Oaks home is under way.
Dion Andre Davis II, 27, and his half-brother, Gregory Pierre Elarms, 30, are on trial for the June 26, 2013, robbery at the home of Ronnie and Janeane Bogner, during which their adult son, Jacob, was pistol-whipped and shot in the leg.
Charges against the two men include robbery, burglary, assault with a firearm on Jacob Bogner and on Lt. Tim Celli of the Clearlake Police Department, car theft, theft, vandalism and conspiracy. Davis, who is alleged to have been the gunman, also is charged with attempted murder.
Tyler Christopher Gallon and Sean Douglas Foss of Clearlake, and San Franciscan Jenaya Drevelyn Jelinek also were arrested in the case. Foss and Gallon have yet to stand trial and Jelinek pleaded out to lesser charges.
Jelinek is among the witnesses that have been presented so far in the trial, in which opening statements and testimony began on Jan. 22. Janeane Bogner also testified in the first two days of trial, with Jacob Bogner beginning his testimony on Friday.
Thursday was the third day of testimony, with retired Placer County Judge James Garbolino handling the case. All of the local superior court judges have recused themselves due to knowing the Bogners.
District Attorney Don Anderson is handling the prosecution of the case, the early stages of which was carried out in criminal grand jury proceedings, which resulted in the indictments of Davis and Elarms. Anderson's co-counsel is Deputy District Attorney Daniel Flesch.
Representing Davis and Elarms are defense attorneys Bill Conwell and Doug Ferguson, respectively.
On Thursday morning, Jacob Bogner was back on the stand, with Conwell questioning him about inconsistencies in statements he made to the criminal grand jury. Specifically, Conwell questioned Bogner about whether he had been able to identify Davis from a police line up or from a Lake County News article about the first four arrests in the case that he saw online while hospitalized.
“I believe I did both,” said Bogner, who also recalled sheriff's Det. Doug Dahmen showing him a photo lineup on July 2.
When Conwell continued to press Bogner about remembering past statements, Garbolino interrupted, pointing out, “His lack of memory today to what he said previously is not relevant.”
After he was shot, Bogner was transported by air ambulance to Enloe Hospital in Chico. There, a Chico Police officer did a courtesy report, conducting a recorded interview with Bogner.
Conwell asked him if he remembered being questioned at that time, with Bogner saying, “somewhat.”
He was also asked about previous statements about what his assailant looked like and the Glock pistol used to shoot him, which he had said didn't have an extended magazine. Bogner said he didn't recall making some of the statements.
Conwell was allowed to play audio of Bogner's recorded interview with Chico Police, passing out transcripts to jurors, who initially had trouble hearing the recordings or matching them to the typed documents.
There was a moment of levity at one point in the proceedings, when Bogner said in response to one of Conwell's questions that it was “leading.” Garbolino said Conwell was allowed to ask such questions.
Detective questioned about investigation
Dahmen, who has been with the Lake County Sheriff's Office for two years, recounted following up with the Bogners – along with Det. Eric Keener – in July 2013 at their home.
During questioning, Dahmen initially did not remember showing Jacob Bogner a photo lineup at that time, and also acknowledged that neither he nor Keener – due to a mix up – had recorded the interview with Janeane Bogner, as is the procedure for their department.
Dahmen said that Jacob Bogner was adamant – after seeing Davis' picture in the news article – that he was his assailant. “He was dead set on that was the individual who was in his house that morning.”
Davis' picture, however, was not included in the photo lineup shown to Jacob Bogner that day, Dahmen said.
When Janeane Bogner was shown photo lineups that day, she picked out the photo of Dexter Currington of San Francisco, who would be arrested in September 2013 in connection to the case and exonerated in March 2014 after he and his attorney proved his alibi.
Dahmen said he interviewed Currington at the Lake County Jail on Sept. 18, 2013. During the half-hour interview, Currington gave Dahmen information that could potentially have cleared him.
However, Dahmen would admit under questioning that he failed to fully follow up on the potentially exculpatory evidence.
He had contacted a youth clinic that Currington mentioned and spoken to a woman who was going to provide him information. Dahmen said he never heard back from her, nor did he follow up with her.
Asked why he didn't, Dahmen responded, “To be honest, I don't know.”
Currington had given Dahmen two alibi witnesses, and had told Dahmen that he had been helping a friend move on the day of the home invasion. However, Dahmen made no attempt to track down those people.
He also didn't write a report about the Currington interview until March of 2014 – six months later – which he acknowledged was not a normal amount of time to complete such a report.
Dahmen said he completed the report after it was brought to his attention by his sergeant that he hadn't written it. He said he hadn't followed up due to his caseload. “I forgot about it, to be honest with you.”
Conwell asked Dahmen if he had told Currington that he was just as interested in finding someone innocent as guilty. Dahmen said yes.
“In this case, you didn't do that, did you?” Conwell asked.
“Not intentionally, no,” Dahmen said.
Law enforcement officers recount the scene
Also appearing on the stand on Thursday were sheriff's Deputy Brian Rochester and Det. Jerry Pfann.
Rochester responded to the report of the home invasion and was one of the first deputies on scene, finding a nearly hysterical Janeane Bogner outside of the home, telling him her son had possibly been shot.
Rochester said deputies searched the residence to make sure the scene was clear so medics could come in and take care of Jacob Bogner, who they found seated in a chair in his bedroom, with a gunshot wound above his left knee.
Pfann described his work to process the scene. “It was very chaotic when I first arrived,” he said, explaining that it took him awhile to figure out what was happening and how to proceed. Once he begins processing a scene, he takes full control of it, he said.
He described several picture exhibits that Anderson showed on a projector, including a Smith and Wesson shell found near Jacob Bogner's bedroom. There also were pictures of the home's damaged front door and the young man's bedroom door, both showing signs of having been forced.
Clearlake Police Lt. Tim Celli also testified about his dangerous encounter with the suspects that day.
Celli, who was in an unmarked police car, got a be on the lookout for a white Cadillac along with a small Chevy sedan in connection to the home invasion.
He said he wasn't clear at that point that the vehicle being sought was a sedan or an Escalade. It would be the latter – the suspects had taken Janeane Bogner's 2002 white Cadillac Escalade.
On Sulphur Bank Road Celli spotted a white Cadillac sedan followed by two other vehicles traveling in the opposite lane coming toward him. The third vehicle in line was a Chevy Malibu with a paper license plate on the back.
He turned around and began following the Chevy, which turned onto 13th Street. Once he was sure he had backup in the area – he saw Police Chief Craig Clausen responding – Celli turned on his lights and sirens, and the Chevy sped up to between 50 and 60 miles per hour, more than twice the speed limit in the residential area.
The vehicle continued onto 16th Street, where it stopped. All of the suspects ran into a wooded city lot, sprinting away from the car on different paths. Celli arrived and when he got there he said he heard gunshots coming from an area in front of him.
“I recall hearing at least three shots,” at which point he sought cover, he said.
Celli didn't, however, return fire, as he wasn't sure where the shots were coming from and he was concerned about nearby residences. “I wasn't clear on my backdrop.”
When Clausen arrived, he and Celli went back to the Chevy and ordered the driver, who was still in the vehicle, to show her hands. When Celli opened the door and pulled her out, he found Jelinek.
At that point the vehicle, which was on a downhill slope, began to roll. Celli reached in and tried to stomp on the brake, but the car didn't stop.
He said it continued downhill, dragging him quite a ways before he was able to pull himself into the vehicle and force it into gear. Celli suffered a torn groin and Clausen later ordered him to go to the doctor.
Ronnie Bogner describes connection to a suspect
Toward the end of the day, Ronnie Bogner took the stand.
He recounted that on the morning of the home invasion he was out on calls for his business, Weed Tech, and was heading through Lucerne when he got a call from his wife, “who was quite distraught.”
Bogner immediately went home. When he arrived, he walked through his home and noticed that two older .22-caliber pistols had been taken. He also watched as they brought his son out on a gurney.
“He was talking so I figured he must be OK,” Bogner said.
Law enforcement would later ask him to respond to 16th Street in Clearlake Park, where the handguns were recovered.
Asked if he knew one of the men arrested in the case, Sean Foss, he explained how his business – which offers servings including clearing lots and spraying weeds – employed Foss for a short time in the summer of 2012.
Bogner said he had never really said anything more than “good morning” to Foss, who hadn't been into his home but had been up the driveway to the barn and yard area. He said one of his foremen fired Foss not long after he had been hired.
The last witness of the day was sheriff's Det. Todd Dunia, who testified about the discovery of Janeane Bogner's Cadillac Escalade down an embankment along Sulphur Bank Road, about a mile and a half from Highway 20.
Testimony is due to continue on Friday.
Anderson anticipates the trial will continue until late February.
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