Point Reyes Light - September 23, 2004
Jury acquits Valley man of assault on deputy
By Jacob Resneck
A Marin Superior Court jury Wednesday found a prominent Forest Knolls man innocent of all charges that grew out of a violent incident a year and a half ago.
Walt Dickson, a heating-and-air-conditioning contractor, as well as the lead guitarist for the San Geronimo Valley’s Skye Blue Band, had faced misdemeanor counts of assaulting a sheriff’s deputy, resisting arrest, and public drunkenness.
"These straight-laced jurors said they did not believe the sheriff’s deputies’ testimony, and one of them said they believed the deputies had used excessive force," Dickson’s attorney Patrick Heron told The Light hours after the verdict was read.
Attorney Heron said verdicts that fly in the face of police testimony are uncommon. "It’s been my experience that citizens don’t want to believe that sworn deputies want to lie, so it’s a very rare victory."
The charges stemmed from an incident at 1:30 a.m. Jan. 3, 2003. when Dickson was walking home from the Papermill Creek Saloon with his ex-wife, Miriah Fox of Forest Knolls.
Jurors were told that after dispatchers relayed a report of an altercation between a man and a woman, deputy Richard Bates spotted Dickson and Fox who were talking at Forest Knolls park, and stopped to investigate.
Bates and two deputies who arrived as backups afterward claimed Dickson was drunk and became abusive, attacking Bates with both fists. After being handcuffed, officers said, he continued to resist, attempted to grab a canister of mace off one of the deputy’s belts. Dickson has vigorously denied this scenario.
What is not in dispute is that after the altercation, Dickson was treated at Marin General Hospital for a dislocated shoulder and facial cuts; none of the deputies was harmed in the fracas.
Dickson’s attorney meanwhile found there are no entries in the sheriff’s log reporting an altercation between a man and a woman in Forest Knolls at the time. After subpoenaing the dispatcher working that evening, Heron questioned the veracity of the deputy’s claim to be responding to a call about a couple squabbling, as there was no record in the log.
"The dispatcher tried to explain it away. [Prosecution witness] Sgt. Al Flores tried to explain it away, but they couldn’t," Heron said, "because, simply, there was no report of a man and a woman arguing. The deputies were just cruising."
Testifying on Dickson’s behalf was his ex-wife. In addition, Skye Blue band members, who had been with him that evening, said he was not drunk, and character witnesses said Dickson is not violent. Also testifying on Dickson’s behalf was Nancy Little, a Forest Knolls resident who witnessed the conclusion of the incident because it occurred just outside her front door.