Hughes' defense suggests cover-up

MARTINEZ -- A prosecutor presented vials of blood, a hammer and other evidence in the second day of testimony aimed at linking a San Francisco man to a violent encounter in Clearlake that left two men dead.

But in a signal of how contested the case is going to be, the attorney for Renato Hughes Jr. pointedly suggested a cover up and botched police investigation in his cross examination of those same witnesses.

Take the hammer, for example, which Lake County District Attorney Jon Hopkins previously told the all-female jury contains Hughes' DNA.

Hopkins called Clearlake Police Officer Michael Ray to the stand Tuesday to recount how he discovered the hammer inside the master bedroom of the house where Shannon Edmonds told police he was awakened by a man wielding a shotgun.

Authorities allege that three men broke into Edmonds' home at about 4 a.m. on Dec. 7, 2005, to steal his stash of medical marijuana, and that in the ensuing melee, Edmonds, his live-in girlfriend, her teenage son and others inside the house were assaulted.

Edmonds gunned down Rashad Williams and Christian Foster.

Hughes, who was a childhood friend of the pair, is being prosecuted under a state law that says a person who provokes another person to kill can be charged with murder.

Ray said he went to the house on Dec. 10 -- three days after the deadly encounter -- at the request of Edmonds so that he could retrieve some items.

The officer testified that he discovered the hammer then and a bandana that reportedly is linked to Foster.

Defense attorney Stuart Hanlon seized on the time lapse between the initial search of the house and the officer's discovery of the two items in an apparent effort to cast doubt on the testimony.

Asked by Hanlon whether the house had been secured during that time, Ray replied, "I don't think it was."

State criminalist Samantha Evans noted bullet casings, blood stains and an overturned Christmas tree as items of potential interest in a rough sketch of the house she made on the day of the violent encounter.

But she, too, did not note a hammer or bandana, even though they likely would have stood out during a search, she testified during cross-examination Tuesday.

Outside court, Hanlon said the evidence suggests "someone put them (the hammer and bandana) there." Asked whether he is going to attempt to suggest in court that the items were planted, he replied, "We'll see what the witnesses say."

Hopkins declined comment on the apparent discrepancies revealed by the testimony, saying only that he will save it for closing arguments. But he has a dim view of Hanlon's not-so-veiled attempts to discredit investigators in the case.

"I think he hopes some juror will focus on that, but when you hear all the evidence, you will see how preposterous that is," Hopkins said.

The hammer isn't the only item that the prosecution believes links Hughes to the scene.

Evans testified about finding an identification card for Hughes in a jacket that was in a Honda parked near the crime scene.

Hughes' blood also allegedly was found on a poster inside the master bedroom of the Clearlake home, although that was not part of the testimony Tuesday.

Hanlon, in his cross examination of Ray, took aim at the manner in which the officer facilitated the collection of Hughes' blood after his arrest at Williams' grandmother's house, where the three men had gathered earlier on the night the deadly violence occured.

Hanlon claims Hughes entered Edmonds' house only briefly after going there for what he thought was a marijuana purchase, and that he injured himself on shattered glass from a sliding door.

You can reach Staff Writer Derek J. Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com.