Bismark Dinius trial wraps up day 1 and prosecution’s case looks weak
by Erik on Jul.29, 2009, under Personal, sailing
A lot of DA Jon Hopkins case against Bismark Dinius is the claim that the sailboat’s running lights were off. California law requires all boats underway to display proper lighting after sunset. Several witnesses called by the prosecution testified that the sailboat’s lights were on when they left the dock shortly before Russell Purdock slammed his speedboat into the starboard side of the sailboat with Dinius at the helm, killing Lynn Thornton.
Anthony Esposti, a fisherman in the area who claims to have seen the sailboat with its lights off shortly before the crash was the prosecution’s chief witness. But during the trial yesterday, Esposti stated that he saw a sailboat with no lights on, but also said he didn’t see any people on it. There were at least 3 people onboard and two on deck at the time of the accident including Lynn Thornton and Bismark Dinius. Esposti also said that the sailboat he saw didn’t have sails up, but many others, including other witnesses for the prosecution have all claimed the sailboat was underway with her sails up at the time of the crash.
Colin Johnson, a friend of Esposti and fellow fisherman, later took the stand and corroborated much of Esposti’s testimony. He also stated he saw a sailboat with no sails. Johnson said “The sails weren’t up. It wasn’t going anywhere.” This could be a big break for the defense as it draws into question whether the two fisherman saw the same boat that was involved in the accident.
Day two begins this morning at 9am. More to come.
2 Comments for this entry
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Picture of the Day
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July 29th, 2009 on 1:13 pm
Thank you for providing this information. I live part time in Clearlake and part time in Calistoga and I have found that information on the case is often hard to come by.
I wondered if you could introduce yourself a bit at some point. Frankly, I would like to be able to have a feeling about your independence from the matter. Are you an impartial observer?
You did not identify the picture of the day. Who is that?
Thanks,
Bob
July 29th, 2009 on 4:43 pm
I wanted to respond to Bob’s questions. First, I have no connection at all to anyone involved in the case. My only interest is to relay the facts as I get them with as little bias as possible. As a sailboat owner, I can imagine the situation and relate it to my own experiences on my boat. From what I’ve heard of the case so far, I have my suspicions and opinions, but I try to editorialize apart from my reporting of the events that happen in the case. I’ve been a writer and editor for a college newspaper, but my profession is in technology and aerospace.
The pictures on the right come from my own photo gallery and have no direct correlation to any of the stories I post here.
Thanks for reading,
Erik