SoHum homicide hearing to start next week
The preliminary hearing for a Briceland man accused of murder is set to begin next Thursday.
Defense attorney Russell Clanton said he was prepared to commence with the preliminary hearing for Ryan Anthony Tanner, who is accused of the murder of Jason Todd Garrett, 33, on or about Feb. 1, on Monday when it was originally scheduled to begin. But Humboldt County Deputy District Attorney Jessica Acosta said Deputy District Attorney Whitney Timm, who is prosecuting the case, needed to get counsel for the witnesses.
“They will be appointed, but
they haven’t met yet,” Acosta said. “So I think setting it out to the 29th would give them the opportunity to do so.”
Clanton said potential witnesses needing attorneys should have been known to the District Attorney’s Office “for a period of time” and was, himself, aware of the “moral turpitude issues associated with these individuals.”
“It just seems poor planning to have it all kind of come to a head on the day of the preliminary hearing,” he said, adding Tanner had been in custody for some time and wanted to get the hearing started.
The District Attorney’s Office wasn’t trying to delay the proceedings more than necessary, Acosta said, but there were issues that arose Friday from reviewing things during the past week that needed to be addressed before the start of a preliminary hearing.
Clanton said he was also notified on Friday that the Department of Justice was going to begin conducting tests this Friday on “DNA on a piece of duct tape that is material to this case,” which will entirely consume the DNA.
Clanton said he wasn’t able to have his own expert be present during the testing and Acosta said the Department of Justice has a policy against videotaping the process. However, if the test isn’t conducted on
Friday, Clanton said that could “result in a delay in Mr. Tanner’s trial.”
“So I’m in between a rock and a hard place,” Clanton said. “I would prefer to have our own expert there, I just don’t see how that procedurally is going to happen between now and this Friday.”
Timm and Clanton were trying to work out possible resolutions, but since Tanner doesn’t want to enter a time waiver that would delay his speedy trial, they weren’t finding much leeway to make that happen.
“There may need to be a motion to be filed again,” Acosta said. “We’re kind of under a time crunch and it does seem Friday is the day it’s going forward.”
Clanton, again, said he was frustrated with the late
notice since he “could have gone through the process by which, as appointed counsel, I could’ve acquired the expert through the funding process.”
“I just don’t have the speed dial like counsel has to get who they need when they need them,” Clanton said. “It’s a little more cumbersome. In fact, considerably more cumbersome for me.”
He said he was hopeful he and Timm could work out a resolution but felt it was important to make a record given a conviction could lead to a possible life sentence.
The preliminary hearing is set to begin 9:15 a.m. Oct. 29.