Man convicted of attempted murder gets 13 years in state prison; says bulk of his income came from drug sales

Adam Michael Kendall, age 28, formerly of New Jersey, appeared before Mendocino County Superior Court Judge John Behnke this morning to be sentenced for his earlier attempted murder conviction.


Back in early September a jury returned a guilty verdict against Kendall for that crime, and also found true  special findings that Kendall personally inflicted great bodily injury on the victim with a hammer.

One interesting section in the probation report summarized the defendant's lack of an employment history. When asked, the defendant could not recall when he last held lawful employment. When asked how much of any income he received came from drug sales, the defendant admitted, "The bulk of it."  Also, some of the leisure time activities he reported to probation were, "Hanging with pretty girls and drinking top shelf liquor."

When given the opportunity to address the Court, the defendant, among other things, characterized the prosecutor as "fiendish," the defense attorney as "inept," and the judge as "unfair," and promised to appeal his conviction.

Once the matter was finally submitted for decision, the Court determined the underlying facts of the crime were aggravated, citing the applicable Rules of Court to support that characterization. The defendant thereafter was sentenced to thirteen (13) years in state prison (CDCR). Because of the nature of the offense, the credits the defendant may attempt to earn in prison against the thirteen years are limited by statute to no more than 15% of the overall sentence.

The prosecutor who handled this matter was District Attorney David Eyster. The investigating law enforcement agencies were the Round Valley Tribal Police, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, and the District Attorney's own investigators.