Suspect in 2016 Sebastopol double-homicide charged with murder

Prosecutors on Tuesday charged one of two suspects in a 2016 Sebastopol shooting that left two people dead and another injured with five felony charges, including two counts of murder.

Maria Teresa Lebron, 31, asked Superior Court Judge Jamie Thistlethwaite for two weeks’ time to find a private attorney to represent her in the case, in which she also faces attempted murder, robbery and burglary charges.

Lebron was booked into Sonoma County Jail on Saturday after her extradition from Travis County in Texas, where she and her suspected accomplice, Robert Lee Randolph, 30, were arrested Dec. 21 after more than two years on the run from police.

Seated in the court’s gallery, Jackie Rose, 62, a retired Cloverdale teacher who befriended and worked with Nathan Proto, one of the two men killed, watched intently Tuesday as the arraignment unfolded.

She and Proto, 36, worked together as English-language development teachers at Washington Middle School, but previously had met when Proto taught at a nearby elementary school, she said. Though Proto stopped teaching in the Cloverdale school district in 2010, the two stayed in touch, meeting for dinner and music sessions with friends, Rose said.

“We’re still here. We still love Nate, and we still expect justice,” she said.

Proto and John Jessie Mariana, 28, of Guerneville, were shot in Proto’s rural Sebastopol home on Oct. 15, 2016 in what authorities called a marijuana deal gone bad. Investigators said Mariana arranged for Lebron and Randolph to buy marijuana from Proto, who grew pot at the property. The deal involved about 100 pounds of marijuana and between $100,000 and $200,000 in cash, authorities said.

Proto’s family did not return a call for comment. Mariana’s family could not be reached.

Proto died the night of the shooting, while Mariana died three days later at a local hospital.

A third victim, an unidentified 23-year-old woman, was shot in the head but survived, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office said.

By the time detectives identified Lebron and Randolph as prime suspects, the pair had fled the state and returned to Philadelphia, where they lived, the Sheriff’s Office said. Lebron ?and Randolph eluded police for more than two years until December when FBI agents traced them to an apartment in Austin, Texas, the Sheriff’s Office said.

If convicted, Lebron could face a maximum sentence of life without parole or the death penalty, said Brian Staebell, Sonoma County chief deputy district attorney.

Randolph remained jailed Tuesday in the Travis County Correctional Complex after contesting his extradition to Sonoma County, Staebell said.

He did not know how long subsequent extradition proceedings for Randolph would take, Staebell said.

Thistlethwaite ruled Lebron was ineligible for release on bail.

Sonoma County Public Defender Kathleen Pozzi said her office would serve as Lebron’s legal counsel while she searches for a paid attorney.

Lebron will return March 19 to court, where she may enter a plea and introduce a new attorney to represent her, Thistlethwaite said.

You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203 or nashelly.chavez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter ?@nashellytweets.