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Sunday, February 20, 2011

LAKEPORT CA-- Motorcycle gang expert testifies..

OFF THE WIRE
By Jeremy Walsh -- Staff reporter
An expert on outlaw motorcycle gangs testified Wednesday at the Lake County Courthouse during the Thomas Loyd Dudney attempted murder trial.
Judge Arthur H. Mann presided. Deputy district attorney Art Grothe represented the Lake County District Attorney's Office and attorney Doug Rhoades represented Dudney.
Dudney faces 11 felony charges, along with many special allegations, for his alleged role in an Oct. 20, 2009 incident in which Lakeport resident Ronald Greiner was shot, tortured and hogtied.
The 59-year-old Dudney is charged with attempted murder, simple and aggravated mayhem, torture, robbery, burglary, three types of assault, battery causing serious bodily injury and participating in a criminal street gang, The Misfits.
Jorge Gil-Blanco, an investigator who said he's been specializing in outlaw motorcycle gangs since the 1990s, testified that he knew Dudney to be a member of The Misfits Motorcycle Club, a group whose members he knows engage in criminal activities.
The prosecution alleges that Dudney committed the crimes in order to benefit The Misfits.
Greiner testified on Feb. 9 that two men attacked him sometime after midnight on Oct. 20, 2009, several days after he had an argument with four people, including Deborah James, at his Lakeport house regarding the disappearance of several marijuana plants he had been growing for James.
Greiner said he recognized one of the two attackers as a man he knew by the
nickname KTron, who he met through James in spring 2009, and later pointed to Dudney when asked if KTron was present in the courtroom.
The prosecution alleges that Dudney and the unidentified second attacker stole some of Greiner's personal marijuana plants and that all of the crimes were committed as retribution for the Oct. 17, 2009 argument about James's missing plants.
After Grothe gave a summary version of testimony supporting the prosecution's allegations, Gil-Blanco said that it was his opinion that the attack "was done for the benefit of The Misfits."
Gil-Blanco said under cross-examination that "not every crime committed by a gang member is a gang crime." He later testified that violent assaults, which are a type of crime motorcycle gang members often commit, could bolster a gang's reputation.
Gil-Blanco also analyzed several photographs of tattoos on Dudney's body. He confirmed that an image on Dudney's forearm depicting a man riding a motorcycle with ape hanger handlebars appeared to be the same image found on Misfits' insignia.
Tattoos of the words "Misfits" and "forever," which Dudney had on either arm, are often indicators of membership in The Misfits, Gil-Blanco said.
Christopher Hernandez, an investigator for the Northern California High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), was the second witness called Wednesday. Hernandez testified that he analyzed phone records related to the case provided by the Lake County Sheriff's Office (LCSO).
The records originated from a MetroPCS cell phone and the subscriber name for the phone was Thomas Dudney, Hernandez said. The records included cell tower locations for that phone's activity on Oct. 19 and 20, 2009, Hernandez said.
The MetroPCS cell phone accessed cell towers in the Rohnert Park area beginning around 10 p.m. on Oct. 19, 2009, according to the records provided by MetroPCS, Hernandez said.
The phone accessed towers in Santa Rosa between 12:30 and 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 20, 2009 and then accessed a tower in the Windsor area around 3:45 a.m., Hernandez said.
Between 6 and 8 a.m. that day, the phone accessed towers in the Hopland area, and then moved down the Highway 101 corridor, accessing towers in several areas along the way, until accessing a tower in the Windsor area around 8:50 a.m., Hernandez said.
The records indicated times when the phone accessed cell towers because of incoming or outgoing calls and not necessarily because of text messages, Hernandez said. The information did not show that the phone accessed a MetroPCS tower in Lake County on either day, according to Hernandez's testimony.
Scott Nagy, a DNA analyst for the state's Department of Justice forensic laboratory in Sacramento, testified that he analyzed reference bloodstains for Dudney and Greiner and compared those stains to a DNA swab.
The DNA swab was taken from a small spot of a biological material found in Dudney's station wagon, according to prior testimony from an LCSO investigator.
Nagy said that at least three people contributed to the biological mixture, which tested positive for blood on a presumptive test but tested negative for blood during a confirmatory test.
Dudney and Greiner "could not be excluded as contributors to the mixture," Nagy said. The chance is 1-in-9,500 that a random white man could be a contributor to the mixture, Nagy said.
The trial concluded for the day after Nagy's testimony. Because of court scheduling issues, the trial is scheduled to reconvene today in Department 4 in Clearlake.
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.