First local trial since pandemic starts sans jury
The first trial in the county since the start of the shelter-inplace order began in mid-March has begun without a jury.
Antone Aubrey, 32, of Hoopa, waived his right to a jury trial and will allow Judge Christopher Wilson to decide whether the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he murdered his sister Angel Aubrey, 33, at a Hoopa gas station on Feb. 17, 2018, by fatally shooting her. Aubrey entered a dual plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.
Deputy District Attorney Candace Myers, defense attorney Russell Clanton and Wilson spent most of the first day of the trial hammering out logistical details.
Myers said she was expecting about three weeks of jury selection and wasn’t prepared to present witnesses on Tuesday and needed until at least next week before she could bring them in, but Clanton said “the witnesses are few in number.”
“I’ve been able to subpoena all of them not knowing what may happen here,” Clanton said. ” … We’ve been able to contact them readily.”
Clanton said he was also willing to accept recorded statements from witnesses who hadn’t been subpoenaed, giving up the ability to cross-examine them, in order to streamline the process.
“The only exception to that would be Paul Aubrey,” Clanton said. “I would like to have him here.”
With that, Myers said she would have the evidence she needed to begin the trial on Tuesday and the three doctors who evaluated Antone Aubrey are set to appear by videoconferencing app Zoom on Wednesday.
The three also spent time trying to figure out who could be crossed off the witness list based on whether their testimony at the preliminary hearing was disputable. That led to a medical examiner, ballistics expert, a Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office deputy and a toxicologist being crossed off the list of witnesses.
“I did hear the preliminary examination so I’m familiar with the outline of the facts in this particular case,” Wilson said, so not all evidence would need to be presented in the way it would be to 12-person jury unfamiliar with the case.
Myers said she didn’t expect the trial to last beyond Wednesday.
Aubrey appeared in court in an orange jumpsuit, blue mask and black gloves, while all other members of the court were properly socially distancing and wearing masks as well, with the exception of Wilson who was not wearing a mask.
The trial is set to continue at 9:15 a.m. Tuesday.