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Evidentiary hearing Thursday on gas tank removalThis article was originally published in the the Amador Ledger Dispatch on July 2, 1999, and is reproduced here with its permission. By Diane Smith JACKSON--There will be an evidentiary hearing Thursday, July 8, to review specific evidence to support charges brought against principals in the case of an alleged illegal May 1998 gas tank removal. Defendants in the case include Robert Womack, Mark Sherrill and David Mason III. Judge John Cruikshank of Stockton is expected to preside at the hearing in Amador Superior Court. Prior to a hearing last week, Cruikshank had reviewed tapes, paperwork and video presented by both the defense and the prosecution in the 21-criminal-count indictments. Murdered trees"You people have murdered a lot of trees," the judge told the attorneys again. "I have so much paper here I feel like the paper boy," he quipped. There are a reported 20,000 pages of discovery information. Even though he has reviewed what is presented as evidence, Cruikshank said he had problems identifying justification for some of the charges. "Nobody has told me in the grand jury transcript where Mr. Mason was part of a conspiracy," Cruikshank said. "Where is that?" Special prosecutor, David Irey replied it was involving the Keith Talia testimony, involving the liquid in the tank. Irey also voiced his theory that Mason, in offering the former Jackson station for sale, was trying to hide an illegal gas tank. The sale of the site was contingent on whether it could be used as a parking area for an adjacent dental office. An old style tank was removed years ago when Mason put in a new double-walled tank to conform to environmental laws. It was that tank which was involved in the illegal removal charges filed against the trio. Results of subsequent soil tests there were negative when taken some months ago. The tank which was removed was eventually tested and found safe of hazardous materials but was ordered sent for disposal as hazardous material to a Bay Area firm by the prosecuting team. Mason faces only one count, the major conspiracy felony charge he shares with Womack and Sherrill. He was not physically at the scene of the removal and claims he was unaware of any of those plans. Video of removalThe judge said he reviewed the video June Womack took of the tank removal she has said she made for her son Roland Womack, DDS, who was on an out-of-town trip at the time. Cruikshank commented on the "Station/Kids at Akido" footage of her grandchildren, also on the tape. "Who are these people?" Cruikshank asked. "That's where it was taped over," Irey said. The tape, Grand Jury Exhibit #3, was seized in one of two all-day unannounced searches of the Womack home. A tape of a Sep. 2 county meeting offered by the prosecution was not audible, he said. A tape recording Womack has said he attempted to make to clarify, for dubious authorities, the circumstances of his taking out a City of Jackson permit, was offered by the prosecution as evidence of illegal eavesdropping. Cruikshank said the eavesdropping/confidential communication statues don't apply to recordings made at a public counter. Womack had said last year that he merely was trying to collect data to show to county heads and that when the person who had issued him a permit was no longer there, he turned off and placed the recorder back in his pocket. The tank was taken out under a City permit but county officials claim the city did not have the authority. The City of Jackson has not refuted the indictment issue nor has it publicly taken part in any of the proceedings. Other charges were also considered and eliminated off the main, illegal-removal indictment, and will be handled separately. The judge indicated he preferred to uncloud the issue and last week, separated a handful of charges from the 21 criminal counts in question. "I looked at this indictment you put together... you've got everything but the kitchen sink thrown in here." Cruikshank had mentioned a wide sweep of a brush was used when the issue really is environmental law. Charges singled out for separate consideration included perjury at the Department of Motor Vehicles (duplicating title seized in the searches of his home and not returned), eavesdropping, conspiracy, dissuading witnesses, Labor Code violations, Workers Compensation (misdemeanor) charges and alleged fraudulent use of a contractor's license number on the city permit. The judge told the prosecution that he wants evidence -- that what he sees now are just charges. He needs to know, he explained, where are the elements of offenses. "Show the elements of how a crime has been committed," he said. Cruikshank also asked why Mark Sherrill wasn't mentioned much in the case. Irey later indicated the prosecution expected a different plea from Sherrill and did not center as much attention on him. There are nine counts against Sherrill, who along with Mason and Womack, pleaded "not guilty." At the evidentiary hearing Thursday, a number of people are expected to be called to testify including Gary Clark, Amador Land Use Agency; Michael Israel and Bob Fourt, county environmental/planning; George Ryan, title officer; Gary Rouse, retired City of Jackson building department; Ron Hall, Amador County District Attorney's Office; and Russell Moore, California Highway Patrol, environmental investigator whose statements to the search warrant magistrate are expected to be explored. Copyright © 1999 Amador Ledger Dispatch |
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