ER - Officers' arraignment begins

Former Eureka Police Department Chief Dave Douglas, foreground, at the scene where Eureka police shot and killed Cheri Lyn Moore on April 14, 2006, following a two-and-a-half-hour standoff. Douglas and EPD Lt. Anthony Zanotti were in court Monday to be arraigned on involuntary manslaughter charges for their roles in the shooting. File photo

Officers' arraignment begins
by Emily Wilson, The Eureka Reporter, 12/10/2007

Men and women in uniform filled the second-story hall of the Humboldt Superior Court Monday afternoon as members of many law enforcement agencies gathered to support retired Eureka Police Department Chief David Douglas and EPD Lt. Anthony Zanotti, who appeared for arraignment on charges of involuntary manslaughter for their leadership roles in the death of Cheri Lyn Moore.

In April 2006, Moore was shot and killed in her second-story apartment at Fifth and G streets after a standoff with Eureka Police Department officers. Douglas and Zanotti were the police commanders in charge at the scene of that incident. Eureka Police Chief Garr Nielsen said he’s disappointed that his officers now face hefty consequences for making difficult choices under extreme circumstances.

“It’s very unsettling to me how it disconnects the criminal justice system in the county,” he said, referring to the district attorney bringing charges against the two police officers.

The indictment became public information Monday in a news release sent out by the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office, although the information was unlawfully leaked and announced in the Times-Standard on Wednesday. An indictment is a formal accusation that begins a criminal case. It is presented by a grand jury and usually required for felonies and other serious crimes. Nielsen said the indictment may have been made as recently as Dec. 4, though it was not officially known until the arraignment at about 1:15 p.m. on Monday.

An arraignment takes place when an accused person goes before a court to answer to the charge made against him or her by indictment. Monday’s arraignment was scheduled with the intent to inform Douglas and Zanotti of charges of involuntary manslaughter, which is a legal act that leads to death due to negligence, but the defense made a request to continue the arraignment date and both Judge John T. Feeney and the prosecution agreed to revisit the hearing on Feb. 21. The transcripts from the grand jury testimony, which contain key witnesses and evidence, will remain sealed until the continuation of the arraignment in February.

The indictment process began when the grand jury heard testimony regarding the shooting from several witnesses, including police officers, over several days, according to a news release from the DA’s Office. The reason the defense asked for a continuation is because the two-week-long grand jury testimony was recently completed and the defense had not had adequate time to review the transcripts, if they were even available yet, said Nielsen.

Douglas and Zanotti appeared in a courtroom so packed that people spilled into the aisles, if they were able to squeeze in at all. Eureka City Manager David Tyson said he was attending in support of law enforcement, but waited outside the courtroom so that everyone else who wanted to watch could fit. In addition to some city employees, attendees including Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office employees, welfare fraud investigators, animal control, FBI, dispatchers and officers’ wives came to show their support for Douglas and Zanotti.

“My biggest fear is the impact it has on all these people that wear the uniform,” Nielsen said of the criminal case.

George Formby, a former Eureka resident conducting business in the Courthouse unrelated to the indictment, expressed his opinion that “EPD does have a long history of shooting people in the back ... the elderly and the kids — shooting to kill. There’s been too much a history of people being killed who didn’t need to be killed.”

Zanotti and Douglas remain free on their own recognizance, but face up to four years in prison if they are convicted, stated a news release from the DA’s Office. Douglas is represented by local defense attorney Bill Bragg and Zanotti is represented by an attorney out of Sacramento.

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