68° SUNNY, Civil suit in Clearlake deaths
Families of 2 men killed in 2005 home invasion say killings unwarranted
Last Modified: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 3:40 a.m.
Shannon Edmonds of Clearlake was not criminally charged for shooting to death two home invasion suspects, but he remains a defendant in a federal wrongful-death civil lawsuit.
"As a result of his recklessness, both Christian (Foster) and Rashad (Williams) were killed that night," according to a civil rights lawsuit brought by the dead men's families.
However, a companion of the two dead men is on trial charged with murder for their deaths and Edmonds is a key witness for the prosecution.
Edmonds is scheduled to testify next week in Martinez at the trial of Renato Hughes Jr., who is charged with the deaths in December 2005 of Foster and Williams, Hughes' alleged co-conspirators in a home-invasion robbery at Edmonds' home.
Hughes was charged under a law that states that someone who provokes the killing of another person can be charged with murder.
The families of Hughes, Foster and Williams have contended from the beginning that Edmonds, not Hughes, is to blame and that both the shooting and the charges against Hughes are racially motivated.
Edmonds is white while Hughes is black, as were Foster and Williams. The three were childhood friends who grew up in the Bay Area.
The civil lawsuit reiterates the families' claims, which also are part of Hughes' criminal defense.
The lawsuit contends Edmonds, who has a prescription for medical marijuana, was selling pot and other drugs from his home and that a fight broke out when the shooting victims were at the house, ostensibly to buy marijuana.
The lawsuit initially also named the City of Clearlake and Lake County as defendants, but a U.S. District Court judge in San Francisco last month dismissed them from the lawsuit and the allegations were not refiled by the June 6 deadline.
The court's ruling leaves Edmonds and his girlfriend, Lori Tyler, as defendants.
Neither could be reached Tuesday.
The lawsuit contends that Williams and Foster were not threats to Edmonds and that Edmonds' use of deadly force was unwarranted.
You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat
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