Clearlake man pleads not guilty to charges in Lucerne vehicle homicide
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Clearlake man charged with killing a Lucerne resident with his van last week was back in court on Tuesday to enter not guilty pleas in the case.
Thomas Andrew Magee, 62, of Clearlake, was arrested for the killing of Joseph Symond Jackson, 40, of Lucerne on Sept. 10, as Lake County News has reported.
Magee was arraigned last week and was back in court on Tuesday for plea entry.
The District Attorney’s Office has filed a criminal complaint against Magee that charges him with murder; assault with a deadly weapon, in this case, his van, with a special allegation of inflicting great bodily injury on Jackson; vehicular manslaughter; the attempted murder of Racheal Gill; assault with a deadly weapon, a vehicle, on Gill; and felony hit and run with injury.
Reports from the scene on the morning of Sept. 10 indicated that Magee had been trying to run over a female subject before hitting Jackson on Highway 20 and Seventh Avenue in Lucerne at 1:30 a.m.
Magee then fled the scene in the van and was stopped about 20 minutes later by a California Highway Patrol officer on Highway 53 near Highway 20 in Clearlake Oaks.
Jackson was taken to Sutter Lakeside Hospital and was to have been flown to an out-of-county trauma center but died before he was transported.
The sheriff’s office previously reported that Magee and Jackson had been acquaintances for a short time before the killing, and had a dispute over property.
Authorities have so far not disclosed why Magee also attempted to hit Gill with his vehicle.
Deputy District Attorney Daniel Flesch said Magee entered pleas of not guilty to all of the charges and waived the requirement for the preliminary hearing to be held within 10 days of his arraignment as well as the requirement that his trial take place 60 days from his arraignment date.
The preliminary hearing has tentatively been set for Jan. 15, with Angelina Potter appointed as Magee’s defense attorney, Flesch said.
Flesch explained that the longer-than-usual time frame is because the case involves murder, adding that he expects there to be voluminous discovery and that Magee’s mental competence may be raised by the defense.
Also adding to the complex nature of the case is Magee’s criminal background.
The District Attorney’s Office complaint against Magee outlines an extensive history of felony criminal convictions across several counties dating back to 1976.
Magee was convicted of the following felonies: burglary and transporting or selling methamphetamine in 1976, vehicle theft in 1982, and burglary and forging a credit card in 1991, all in San Mateo County; bringing drugs into a jail in 1981 in Lake County; and possession of a concealed firearm, grand theft and residential first degree burglary in Santa Clara County in 1985.
The criminal complaint states that the 1985 Santa Clara County first degree burglary conviction is a serious or violent felony and qualifies as a “strike” under California’s three strikes law.
Magee remains in the Lake County Jail on $1.3 million bail. Last week, Judge J. David Markham raised Magee’s bail to that amount from $1 million at the end of a bail review hearing due to the danger the court believes he poses to the community.
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