Outstanding discovery in vehicular manslaughter case

Thomas Andrew Magee, 62, of Clearlake, appeared for a Master Calendar Call Hearing at the Lake County Superior Court in Lakeport.

During the hearing, Defense Attorney Angelina Potter addressed that there is outstanding discovery in this matter and she requested a continuance.

The Court, pursuant to the request of the Defendant, orders this matter be continued .

The Master Calendar Call has been scheduled for Jan. 31, 2020 at 8:15 a.m. with the Jury Trial set for Feb. 5, 2020 at 8:15 a.m. in Department 4.

Magee has been charged with vehicular manslaughter, murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder and hit and run.

The charges stem from an incident last September when a Lucerne man died after a vehicle-pedestrian collision that local authorities say was murder.

Sheriff’s office public information officer Lt. Corey Paulich said deputies had been dispatched along with California Highway Patrol officers to the area of Highway 20 and Lucerne’s 7th Avenue,

where they found a male pedestrian with critical injuries. The man, who was later identified as Joseph Symond Jackson, 40, of Lucerne, was flown to Sutter Lakeside Hospital in Lakeport, where he succumbed to his injuries.

According to Paulich, law enforcement officers determined, based on witness statements and the nature of the accident, that Jackson had been “intentionally struck” and that the suspect had “fled the scene.”

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office booked Thomas Andrew Magee on Sept. 10, 2019 into the Lake County Jail on suspicion of murder with bail set at $1 million.

Witnesses said Magee and Jackson had been in a dispute over property, Paulich added.

According to Paulich, Magee, driving a white van, was arrested by CHP in Clearlake Oaks.

The sheriff’s major

crimes unit responded to investigate.

The defendant is ordered to appear at the scheduled hearings.

Clearlake man enters plea in vehicle theft matter

During a recent settlement hearing, Marissa Marie Prude, 29, of Clearlake, entered a nolo plea to the felony charge of vehicle theft. A nolo plea allows the defendant to not accept or deny responsibility for the charge(s) but to agree to and accept the punishment.

The Court accepted the defendant’s plea and found there was a factual basis for the entry of the defendant’s plea.

Prude had been charged with vehicle and violation of probation as the defendant had violated his probation after being convicted of criminal threats in July of last year.

A community service officer with the Clearlake Police Department followed an erratic driver this week, and then discovered that

vehicle had just been stolen.

On Tuesday at around 7:30 p.m., CSO Daniel Constancio was nearing the end of his shift when he saw a red Kia Sephia driving erratically on Highway 29. “He decided to run the license plate on instinct, because something seemed off,” the CPD wrote. The vehicle’s Washington license plate “came back as having been reported stolen only two hours prior from a shopping center in Clearlake.”

Constancio followed the Kia along the highway and back into Clearlake city limits, advising the CPD of what was happening.

When the vehicle drove to Walmart, other CPD officers were ready, and pulled it over on suspicion of a felony.

According to the CPD, Constancio “provided real time updates as officers to respond assist, which allowed Ofc. Franklin and other patrol units to arrive and conduct a felony traffic stop on the vehicle in the parking lot of Walmart.”

The vehicle’s driver, Marissa

Prude, was “safely taken into custody on probable cause for charges of vehicle theft and violation of probation,” the police department said. “A passenger in the vehicle was also detained but later released from the scene without charges.”

Prude was booked into the Lake County Jail on suspicion of taking a vehicle without its owner’s consent and remains in custody.

According to the CPD, the Kia was “returned to its rightful owner and this incident concluded.”

The CPD praised Constancio for his efforts: “After a long day of handling cold calls (police speak for calls where the suspect is gone), assisting patrol officers with investigations and transporting prisoners to the Lake County Jail, (Constancio) was finally headed back to the City of Clearlake to end his shift.”

CPD requested to “Please give CSO Constancio some extra recognition for his extra stellar effort in this case.”

This matter has been referred

to the Lake County Probation Department for the preparation of a PreSentencing Report and recommendation in the vehicle theft matter and a Supplemental Pre-Sentencing

Report and recommendation in the violation of probation matter.

A Sentencing Hearing has been set for Feb. 3, 2020 at 1:30 p.m. in Department 3.