LAKEPORT — No one's denying Ivan Oliver stabbed a Lakeport neighbor 65 times after mistaking him for a convicted pedophile. The question about to be mulled by a Lake County jury is whether it was a case of premeditated murder, self defense or something in between.
During closing arguments Friday in the Lake County Superior Court trial, Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff told jurors the death is a clear case of first-degree murder.
He said Oliver went to Michael Dodele's mobile home with a knife and the intent to kill him. Oliver stabbed Dodele "over and over and over again" with enough force to fracture several ribs and vertebrae, he said.
"There was no way that was self defense. He was like a shark on a feeding frenzy," Hinchcliff said.
He said Oliver, 34, killed Dodele, 67, in November 2007 because he hates child molesters and thought Dodele was a convicted pedophile after finding him on a Megan's Law sex registrant list. A confusing entry on the Megan's Law website was at the root of the mistake.
Dodele was convicted of raping multiple women in the 1970s and 1980s, not children. He'd served more than 20 years in prison for his crimes and had been released just a month before he was killed.
The misreading of the website led Oliver to think Dodele may have touched his 4-year-old son and to confront Dodele about the suspected incident, said defense attorney Stephen Carter. The attorney characterized Oliver as a doting, concerned father who was frantic with concern for his son's safety.
Recounting his client's trial testimony, Dodele said that when Oliver confronted Dodele, the older man became angry and tried to stab Oliver, he said.
Oliver was able to seize the knife and defend himself, Carter recounted. He said Oliver, eyes closed, "wildly" stabbed at Dodele. Oliver initially tried to cover up the crime but eventually admitted the slaying, according to court testimony.
Hinchcliff told jurors the self-defense scenario is implausible but Carter defended his client's story. He said Dodele was a dangerous man who had raped several women at knifepoint and was capable of using the weapon on another adult.
"Mr. Dodele lived by the knife and died by the knife," Carter said.
Oliver also had experience with knives. He has a prior conviction for stabbing a security guard who confronted a group of Oliver's friends for leaving a Southern California restaurant without paying. He also is suspected of assaulting a young gay man the same day he killed Dodele.
Carter advised jurors to conclude that Oliver killed Dodele in self defense. At most, they should find him guilty of voluntary manslaughter, he said.
The jury will begin deliberations on Wednesday. In addition to murder, the counts they will be considering include a special allegation that Oliver used information from the Megan's Law sex offender registry to commit a felony, burglary, elder abuse and using a knife to commit a crime.
(You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or Glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com.)
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