Racism Claimed in Robbery Case

(Lakeport, California) In December 2006, three alleged intruders rampaged through the home of 33-year-old Shannon Edmonds demanding marijuana. Edmonds' stepson, Dale Lafferty, was brutally beaten with a baseball bat.

During the episode, Edmonds grabbed a firearm and shot two of the alleged invaders. Rashad Williams, 21, and Christian Foster, 22, both died from gunshot wounds in the back. The third intruder, Renato Hughes Jr., fled.

Apprehended afterward, Hughes was charged with robbery, burglary and assault. In addition, Hughes has been charged with first-degree murder under California's rarely-used Provocative Act doctrine where prosecutors only have to prove that a criminal enterprise could lead to a fatal result.

Therefore, even though Hughes didn't actually kill his alleged criminal buddies, the prosecution is placing their deaths on his head. Hughes' trial is scheduled to start on November 27th.

Because Hughes is an African-American, the NAACP has complained of harshness toward Hughes.

The Rev. Amos Brown, head of the San Francisco chapter of the NAACP and pastor at Hughes' church, said the case demonstrates the legal system is racist in remote Lake County, aspiring wine country 100 miles north of San Francisco. The sparsely populated county of 13,000 people is 91 percent white and 2 percent black.

Hughes' mother, schoolteacher Judy Hughes, said that her son just went to Edmonds' house to buy marijuana, not steal it, and called the case a "legal lynching."

Meanwhile, Edmonds' stepson is brain-damaged due to the beating with a baseball bat, lives in a care center and is unable to feed himself.

I expect we will hear more about this story from the mainstream media.

Tip: slwlion