Charges denied in alleged attack upon prankster
A San Rafael man accused of threatening to kill a 14-yearold prankster was on edge because of alleged drug activity in the neighborhood, his lawyer says.
John Edward Mahoney, making his second court appearance in the case, entered a not guilty plea through his defense attorney on Monday. Mahoney, 52, is free on bail and appeared by teleconference.
Judge Paul Haakenson set the next court date for Dec. 6 to schedule further proceedings.
San Rafael police arrested Mahoney, a Terra Linda resident, after an incident on Oct. 2 in the area of Wakerobin Lane and Wisteria Way. The police department initially said someone in a group of youths rang Mahoney’s door and ran. Later the department clarified the allegation to say the prankster banged on the door.
Mahoney allegedly ran after the youths, and one tripped and fell. Mahoney allegedly grabbed the boy by the shirt, lifted him up, forced him to walk back toward his house and threatened to shoot him, police said.
A neighbor intervened. Police booked Mahoney on suspicion of kidnapping, battery and criminal threats. The district attorney’s office charged him with false imprisonment by violence, criminal threats, battery and inflicting “unjustifiable” pain and suffering on a child.
Mahoney’s defense attorney, Charles Dresow, said the police allegations “grossly mischaracterize” what happened.
“My client was alone at night with his son when they were shocked by a terrifying smashing on their house,” Dresow said. “An unknown trespasser had wrapped a sweatshirt around his head, snuck through a carport, and pounded on the house. Shortly thereafter another trespasser snuck through the carport and slammed on the house some more.”
In the weeks before the incident, neighborhood tensions over a suspected drug house on Wisteria Way prompted a group of residents to hire a lawyer. The lawyer, Gary Moss, wrote a letter to the property owner on Oct. 4 citing numerous instances of apparent drug sales and overdoses, including one fatal overdose.
Moss demanded that the property owner fix the problem or face a potential lawsuit.
“It is clear that the occupants of your property pose a danger to neighbors and disrupt and interfere with the quiet enjoyment of their properties,” he wrote. “As such, there also exists the issue of its negative impact on my clients’ properties value. This is no small matter and would be at issue in any litigation.”
San Rafael police Officer Kaitlin Maley confirmed that police handled several nuisance calls at the prop
erty. Chief Deputy Coroner Roger Fielding said a 27-year-old woman was pronounced dead on Sept. 24 after a roommate at the residence found her “unresponsive.” The toxicology tests and cause of death for Janae Monique Turner remain pending.
Dresow said, “The constant turmoil related to that property has created a climate of tension and apprehension of what is going to happen next. This explains why the sudden pounding on my client’s door at night by a trespasser who was covering up their face would cause extreme fear.”
Moss, the neighbors’ lawyer, said the conflict has since been resolved.
“I am pleased to report that the owner of the property, an out-of-state resident, after receiving our notice of the events and our demand for abatement of the nuisance, took immediate action and the residents causing the nuisance left the property within a few days,” Moss said.
Mahoney’s case is the second this year in Marin involving alleged death threats after teen pranks. Dean Taylor, a retired San Francisco police detective who lives in San Rafael, was arrested in February after threatening to “put a bullet” in a teen he suspected of ringing his doorbell and running away, police said.
Taylor has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, criminal threats, false imprisonment, battery and child endangerment. A preliminary hearing is pending.