After a hung jury and a mistrial, defendant immediately enters a plea

A Mendocino County Superior Court jury returned from all day deliberations late Wednesday afternoon to declare that it was hopefully deadlocked.



The jury's unsuccessful deliberations were longer in time than it took the prosecutor to present his three witnesses,  enter into evidence his twelve photographs, and argue to the jury the case against defendant Richard Allan Cauckwell, Jr., age 56, generally of the Ukiah area.

Defendant Cauckwell had been charged by the District Attorney with recklessly causing a fire in a boarded up business on North State Street in January of this year, a felony.

After today's mistrial had been declared, the foreperson advised the Court that the jury was split 11 for guilt to 1.

Normally the retrial before a new jury must be set within sixty days following a mistrial. However, once this week's jury was excused and all jurors had left the courtroom, the defendant decided to accept responsibility for his reckless conduct and immediately entered a guilty plea to the charged felony.

The defendant's case thereafter was referred to the Adult Probation Department for a background study and sentencing recommendation. The defendant's sentencing exposure is up to 36 months in state prison.

The defendant is ineligible for a grant of probation unless the Court expressly finds in August that one or more unusual circumstances, as listed in Rule 4.413 of the California Rules of Court, are applicable to this case or this defendant. This limitation on probation flows from the defendant's prior felony record -- the defendant has at least seven prior felony convictions, two of which are Strike convictions, and has previously been to state prison at least four times.

Any one interested in the outcome of this matter is welcome to attend the formal sentencing hearing now calendared for  August 28th at 1:30 in the afternoon in Department H of the Ukiah Courthouse.

The prosecutor who is handling this case and the lawyer who presented the People's evidence at trial is District Attorney David Eyster.

The law enforcement and fire agencies that gathered the evidence supporting today's conviction were the California Highway Patrol, the Ukiah Police Department, and the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority.

Mendocino County Superior Court Judge John Behnke presided over the three-day trial and accepted the defendant's change of plea after 5 o'clock Wednesday. Judge Behnke will be the sentencing judge in August.