LAKEPORT, Calif. – A man who had been a codefendant in the murders of a Maine couple pleaded guilty to a lesser charge this week and was released on his own recognizance pending sentencing next month.
Elijah Bae McKay, 30, of Lower Lake pleaded guilty to accessory to murder after the fact in connection to the January 2010 deaths of Frank and Yvette Maddox of Augusta, Maine, according to his attorney, Justin Petersen of Ukiah.
The Maddoxes were shot to death by Robby Alan Beasley, who had grown up with McKay in Maine and came west to work in McKay’s marijuana growing business.
Beasley, 32, was convicted last month and sentenced to two life terms last Tuesday, as Lake County News has reported.
The same day as Judge Andrew Blum handed down to Beasley two life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus 23 years for other charges, Senior Deputy District Attorney Art Grothe filed an amended complaint against McKay, who originally had faced murder and a number of other felony charges in the case.
Grothe’s amended complaint included only one charge, accessory after the fact to murder.
“I informed the court that my basis for making the motion to amend was that, in view of all the evidence produced during the investigation and trial of Beasley, it was my opinion that the current amendment most accurately reflected McKay’s participation in the murder and was what I felt we could properly obtain a conviction for should McKay chose to go to trial,” Grothe said.
Both Grothe and Petersen emphasized that there was no plea bargain or deal made in settling McKay’s case.
Petersen said the District Attorney’s Office simply gave McKay the opportunity to tell his side of the story in Beasley’s trial.
“Based on the credibility and compelling nature of Mr. McKay’s testimony, Mr. Grothe came to be convinced that my client was, in fact, not involved in the murders but was simply an accessory after the fact,” Petersen explained. “Based on that belief, Mr. Grothe amended the charges.”
During his testimony McKay admitted to providing Beasley with a 9 millimeter handgun for protection after his apartment was burglarized and several pounds of marijuana was stolen.
Beasley used the handgun to fatally shoot the couple during a confrontation along the side of Morgan Valley Road near Lower Lake, believing they had stolen the marijuana from him.
After the murders, McKay helped Beasley dispose of his clothes, cell phone and the Maddoxes’ pickup, according to his statements in court.
Petersen said he agreed with the amended complaint. “My client was never guilty of murder.”
He said he believed McKay was “hugely relieved when the DA’s Office came to believe what we already knew.”
Beasley, who is appealing his conviction, said at his Tuesday sentencing that McKay had lied in his testimony.
Grothe said McKay’s sentencing is set for Feb. 19 before Judge Blum.
The sentencing range for the charges is 16 months, two years or three years. On Tuesday McKay was released on his own recognizance due to the fact that under the available sentencing options he had already served all of the custody time available, Grothe said.
Petersen said McKay had been in jail for 26 months. He said the charge only required half time be served, meaning McKay had far exceeded the necessary time in custody.
Once the court proceedings are past, McKay plans to leave Lake County and move back east to be with his wife’s family, where he intends to start a new life, Petersen said.
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