John Chiv: Alleged molestor case who added a violation of court order charge jury trial unlikely to proceed next week

Apr 22, 2023

Alleged molestor case who added a violation of court order charge jury trial unlikely to proceed next week

On 4/14, the motion filed by the DA to consolidate both cases for alleged molestor Matthew Dickerson was continued to 4/21. The jury trial date of 4/17 was vacated and rescheduled for 4/24.

I have covered the 2022 alleged molestation case, charges for the 8 felony counts and information for the preliminary hearing are in prior posts. In 2023, the DA filed a case charging Dickerson with one count of PC 166 (a) (4) disobeying a court order.

At trial assignment on 4/21, there was some discussion in the morning, more discussion was supposed to continue in the afternoon. After three hours of trial assignment in the morning I was not sitting around for more Humboldt Superior Court chaos.

Deputy District Attorney Whitney Timm is currently in another trial. Deputy Public Defender Ben McLaughlin went back and forth Judge Joyce Hinrichs about time waiver and outstanding discovery in the molestation case. Mr. McLaughlin said he had a plea form in the co-defendant case. This is the 2023 case about disobeying a court order.

It is doubtful the trial will proceed even if Dickerson did not enter a limited waiver in the afternoon based on Judge Hinrich's remark about court availability. Courtroom 1 and 2 already have jury trials going on and there several trials ready to proceed for next week.