Jury convicts Mendocino County man of fatal shooting outside Covelo bar

A Mendocino County man whose arrest in a fatal 2021 Covelo bar shooting followed a dayslong search was convicted Monday of second-degree murder.

A jury also convicted Dino Blackbear Lincoln, 36, of assault with a deadly weapon and reckless driving while evading police, according to Mendocino County Superior Court records.

He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced July 27 before Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Keith Faulder.

The victim, Kenneth Whipple, was shot Sept. 15, 2021, outside The Buckhorn Bar at Greely Street and Highway 162.

Whipple’s cousin, Nicholas Whipple, was killed March 29 and Kenneth Whipple’s mother, Cheebo Frasier, stressed Monday’s conviction was timely. All are members of the Round Valley Indian Tribes.

On April 17, the tribal council declared a state of emergency due to recent slayings involving members and issued a curfew for anyone under the age of 18.

“Prosecutions can help curtail the epidemic,” Cheebo Frazier told The Press Democrat.

Lincoln’s attorney, Joseph Stogner, said he plans to appeal the case.

He said it wouldn’t have been possible for Lincoln to shoot Kenneth Whipple, since they were across the street from each other on opposite corners of an intersection and they were separated by a parked Toyota Tacoma.

“The essence of the case was whether surveillance video depicted what the prosecutor theorized it did,” he said, emphasizing the footage was ambiguous.

Stogner said testimony indicated another person may have fired a gun the night Kenneth Whipple died.

According to Mendocino County court documents, Mendocino County sheriff’s deputies discovered Kenneth Whipple on the southeast corner of the intersection late Sept. 15.

He was shot on the side of his neck and pronounced dead while being transported to a hospital.

An investigation determined Lincoln and his cousin, Corina Carrio, were at the bar that night and the shooting occurred as they left.

Lincoln was heard saying “watch this” before firing five rounds from a 9 mm handgun from the northwest corner of the intersection, documents show.

The pair drove away before crashing into an unspecified location and separating.

Carrio buried the gun in a friend’s backyard and it was later recovered, investigators said.

The day after the shooting, Investigators interviewed a witness who said he communicated with Lincoln via Facebook Messenger. During the conversation, Lincoln said he “killed Ken” and was “trying to figure our (sic) how to get out bro,” according to a trial brief filed by the prosecution.

Lincoln was spotted in Fort Bragg on Sept. 17 and led authorities on a chase that began near Oak and Main streets.

He ignored stop signs and collided with another driver at Chestnut and Harrison streets. Lincoln continued driving before crashing into a ditch and running away.

The driver Lincoln hit was treated at a hospital for injuries.

One day later, Lincoln was arrested at an unspecified location on Hansen Road in Fort Bragg.

Lincoln was interviewed and explained he’d been drinking on Sept. 15 and did not recall details from that night.

“He said that he has not had an issue with Kenneth Frazier Whipple. he did not recall being afraid that evening, shooting in self defense or anything else that would serve to justify or mitigate the killing,” prosecutors wrote in a trial brief ahead of Lincoln’s trial.

On Sept. 20, Carrio was arrested after surrendering to authorities in Willits.

She was convicted in November on one felony count of being an accessory.

Press Democrat reporter Alana Minkler contributed to this story

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @colin_atagi