Coastal Post Online
MARIN COUNTY'S NEWS MONTHLY - FREE PRESS
(415)868-1600 -
(415)868-0502(fax) - P.O.
Box 31, Bolinas, CA, 94924
October, 2004
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Jury Finds Walt Dixon Innocent.
The Case of the Missing 911 Calls
By Jim Scanlon
After a one week
trial before Judge James Ritchie in Marin Superior Court, a jury of 12 men and
women deliberated two hours and found Walt Dixon of Woodacre not guilty of charges
of battery on a police officer, resisting arrest and being drunk in public.
The charges arose out of an incident in January 2003 in downtown Forest
Knolls. Dixon claimed that he was standing in the
town park minding his own business talking to his ex girlfriend when a
sheriff's deputy pulled up in his vehicle and began questioned him for no
apparent reason. He claimed the officer got upset with the way he handed over
his driver's license and subdued him.
The officer maintained Dixon and his
girlfriend both showed signs of intoxication and Dixon was rude, insolent and uncooperative and struck his armored
vest. Several other deputies, who were in Forest Knolls investigating an
inconclusive report of a teen age party, responded to the scene. Their testimony
supported the arresting officer.
Dixon's cries of pain, "Stop! You
are breaking my arms," awakened three women, none of whom were acquainted
with Dixon, who were staying in a home across
from the park. They all testified, in one form or another, to seeing Dixon on the ground with a tall, heavily
built deputy pressing his knee or his foot in Dixon's back while pulling up on his handcuffed arms.
Dixon's injuries were not permanent and
no bones were broken. For reasons not explained Dixon was never given a breathalyzer or blood alcohol test either
of which would have clarified the drunk in public charge.
The way the prosecuting District Attorney presented the case to the jury, it
came down to who was lying, Dixon or the
sheriff's deputies. If that was so, the jury believed Dixon, a popular, well liked, public
spirited musician and a native of the San Geronimo Valley who had never been in
trouble before.
Probably what influenced the jury most was that three of the Sheriff's
Deputies reported and later testified that they had heard of a 911 call
reported over radio dispatch of a man and a woman arguing in the park on the
corner of Guadeloupe and Montezuma. Dixon said he knew it wasn't true since he and his ex girlfriend had not been
arguing and there was no one else in the park.
Dixon said the District Attorney's Office
made offers if he agreed to plead guilty: 60 days jail plus community service,
28 days jail plus community service and finally just community service. He said
he went to the expense and aggravation of a jury trial because he knew he was
innocent.
Dixon's attorney Patrick Heron subpoenaed
the Sheriff's radio dispatch records which showed that there was no record of
the 911 call or calls.
During the past two years there have been several instances in West Marin,
in Point Reyes Station, Bolinas and in Novato in which Sheriff's Deputies were accused of using excessive force.
It has been rumored that deputies who drive long distances to West Marin to
respond to calls do not like to return to the Civic Center empty, that is, without someone to
book in jail and account for revenue for the county. So they look around for
anyone who appears to have been drinking to return to the jail with
passenger(s).