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UKIAH, CA -- On his own
initiative, Judge John J. Golden has delayed the manslaughter retrial
of Bear Lincoln to September, pushed back from March because of scheduling conflicts. Most of a short February 6 pretrial hearing on jury selection procedures
was held behind closed doors.
Golden called District Attorney Susan Massini and Lincoln defense attorney Philip DeJong into chambers for a private conference lasting over twenty minutes. When they reemerged, Golden ruled in favor of a defense motion to use a questionnaire in screening potential jurors. Massini objected to several items on the proposed questionnaire, and Golden ordered them removed. Severe weather and closed roads limited attendance at the hearing to about twenty people -- a stark contrast to the full courtroom that has become usual in the high-profile case. Jurors from Lincoln's first trial remain active in his support, and will appear at a public forum event Sunday, February 15, at 6 pm at the Ukiah Methodist Church. Several of the jurors, along with defense attorney Tony Serra and Bear Lincoln, will also take part in a forum/presentation the next day, Monday, February 16, at 6 pm at the Berkeley Unitarian Church. Twelve jurors unanimously found Lincoln innocent of first and second degree murder charges in the death of Mendocino deputy sheriff Bob Davis in April, 1995, and ten of them also voted for full acquittal on the basis of self-defense. Massini announced December 5 that she had decided to retry Lincoln on the hung manslaughter charge despite the 10-2 vote for acquittal. A Monitor special feature about the Lincoln jurors will appear shortly.
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Albion Monitor March 6, 1998 (http://www.monitor.net/monitor)
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