Judge rules out charge in fatal shooting
Californian News Service
LINDSAY - Following a four-hour hearing Thursday in Lindsay Justice Court, Judge J. Patrick Sullivan dismissed manslaughter charges against Delbert Rowell, 34. Rowell had been charged with the fatal shooting of John Mohoff, 18, on the night of Jan. 9.
Judge Sullivan said there was a problem with seizure of the weapon involved. He made the ruling there had been an illegal search. "Without the main evidence," Judge Sullivan said, "there are not sufficient facts to bind over Rowell to Superior Court to answer to manslaughter charges.
"The district attorney's office can refile or take the case to the grand jury for an indictment," the judge told The Californian.
According to sheriff's investigators, Mohoff was a passenger in a Jeep, driven by 17-year-old Mark Steven Doutney of Porterville, when struck in the head by a bullet from a gun, allegedly fired by Rowell. The young men reportedly were spinning circles in Rowell's freshly planted oat field when the incident occurred at 10:30 p.m. Mohoff died in Kaweah Delta Hospital in Visalia at noon the next day.
[Bakersfield Californian, February 7, 1976, page 8
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Parents: Issai William Mohoff (1926-2007) and Lusha Vassilyvna Bibayoff (1932-1978)
Children: Eddie, William, John, Daniel, and Joe
Californian News Service
LINDSAY - Following a four-hour hearing Thursday in Lindsay Justice Court, Judge J. Patrick Sullivan dismissed manslaughter charges against Delbert Rowell, 34. Rowell had been charged with the fatal shooting of John Mohoff, 18, on the night of Jan. 9.
Judge Sullivan said there was a problem with seizure of the weapon involved. He made the ruling there had been an illegal search. "Without the main evidence," Judge Sullivan said, "there are not sufficient facts to bind over Rowell to Superior Court to answer to manslaughter charges.
"The district attorney's office can refile or take the case to the grand jury for an indictment," the judge told The Californian.
According to sheriff's investigators, Mohoff was a passenger in a Jeep, driven by 17-year-old Mark Steven Doutney of Porterville, when struck in the head by a bullet from a gun, allegedly fired by Rowell. The young men reportedly were spinning circles in Rowell's freshly planted oat field when the incident occurred at 10:30 p.m. Mohoff died in Kaweah Delta Hospital in Visalia at noon the next day.
[Bakersfield Californian, February 7, 1976, page 8
=======================
Parents: Issai William Mohoff (1926-2007) and Lusha Vassilyvna Bibayoff (1932-1978)
Children: Eddie, William, John, Daniel, and Joe
Judge rules out charge in fatal shooting
Californian News Service
LINDSAY - Following a four-hour hearing Thursday in Lindsay Justice Court, Judge J. Patrick Sullivan dismissed manslaughter charges against Delbert Rowell, 34. Rowell had been charged with the fatal shooting of John Mohoff, 18, on the night of Jan. 9.
Judge Sullivan said there was a problem with seizure of the weapon involved. He made the ruling there had been an illegal search. "Without the main evidence," Judge Sullivan said, "there are not sufficient facts to bind over Rowell to Superior Court to answer to manslaughter charges.
"The district attorney's office can refile or take the case to the grand jury for an indictment," the judge told The Californian.
According to sheriff's investigators, Mohoff was a passenger in a Jeep, driven by 17-year-old Mark Steven Doutney of Porterville, when struck in the head by a bullet from a gun, allegedly fired by Rowell. The young men reportedly were spinning circles in Rowell's freshly planted oat field when the incident occurred at 10:30 p.m. Mohoff died in Kaweah Delta Hospital in Visalia at noon the next day.
[Bakersfield Californian, February 7, 1976, page 8
=======================
Parents: Issai William Mohoff (1926-2007) and Lusha Vassilyvna Bibayoff (1932-1978)
Children: Eddie, William, John, Daniel, and Joe
Californian News Service
LINDSAY - Following a four-hour hearing Thursday in Lindsay Justice Court, Judge J. Patrick Sullivan dismissed manslaughter charges against Delbert Rowell, 34. Rowell had been charged with the fatal shooting of John Mohoff, 18, on the night of Jan. 9.
Judge Sullivan said there was a problem with seizure of the weapon involved. He made the ruling there had been an illegal search. "Without the main evidence," Judge Sullivan said, "there are not sufficient facts to bind over Rowell to Superior Court to answer to manslaughter charges.
"The district attorney's office can refile or take the case to the grand jury for an indictment," the judge told The Californian.
According to sheriff's investigators, Mohoff was a passenger in a Jeep, driven by 17-year-old Mark Steven Doutney of Porterville, when struck in the head by a bullet from a gun, allegedly fired by Rowell. The young men reportedly were spinning circles in Rowell's freshly planted oat field when the incident occurred at 10:30 p.m. Mohoff died in Kaweah Delta Hospital in Visalia at noon the next day.
[Bakersfield Californian, February 7, 1976, page 8
=======================
Parents: Issai William Mohoff (1926-2007) and Lusha Vassilyvna Bibayoff (1932-1978)
Children: Eddie, William, John, Daniel, and Joe
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