The only person who was in real danger of being hurt and killed was Mr. Black."

In her opening statement, Ms. Andrea Sullivan, Michael Black's attorney told jurors, "On May 8 of last year, my client made a lot of mistakes and poor choices. The one thing he didn't do is make criminal threats. The only person who was in real danger of being hurt and killed was Mr. Black."

Ms. Sullivan said that at one time, Russ Clanton was Black's lawyer. Last year, Black lost his wife, his son, his job and his father.  "This resulted in low level misdemeanor offenses. He had no prior criminal record."

"He gives a big shot attorney $4 000. Mr. Black leaves and goes out of state to go to his father's memorial service. He returns to Humboldt County. He can't get hold of his attorney. Calls are not returned. He does not know if he can drive."

"On May 8, Mr. Black goes home, he starts drinking heavily. He takes a flashlight, a boombox, a phone and wants to mske a childish disturbance on Mr. Clanton's property."

"Mr. Clanton pulls a rifle on him. Mr. Clanton orders Mr. Black to get on the ground. Mr. Black had no knife and no gun. Things escalate; both are getting aggressive."

"Mr. Black is not on trial for what he said to the realtor. He is not on trial for stupid things he said to the deputies. He is on trial for the utterances Mr. Clanton said he said before the deputies arrived."

Ms. Sullivan went into the elements of what needs to be proven for the criminal threat charge.

Previous posts:
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2019/01/all-he-does-is-talk-he-is-lawyer-and-he.html?m=1

https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2019/01/russ-clanton-and-his-wife-testify-in.html?m=1