Lake Tahoe Forest Service: "Smokey Bear was stolen from the Fire Danger sign on US50 at Spooner Summit! Please, if you saw anything suspicious or out of place, call our front desk at 530-543-2600 or email us at sm.fs.paltbmu@usda.gov and help us bring @smokey_bear home. #SmokeyBear#OnlyYou#FirePrevention" #crime#LakeTahoe#Tahoe
Hanging out in Tahoe for Yule and went down to the lake at Zephyr Cove while checking out the abandoned Lincoln Highway. Then had lunch and was visited by a red shouldered hawk and a mountain chickadee.
Good morning again from Placerville. I’m in court for day 2 of the mini-trial of David and Shane Smith.
The father-son duo is accused of starting the 2021 #CaldorFire.
The flames burned #GrizzlyFlats and forced all of South Lake Tahoe to evacuate.
The Smiths each face 3 counts of felony reckless arson and weapons felonies.
Judge Vicki Ashworth, who’ll decide whether the Smiths must face a jury trial after this hearing, is starting a half hour late. She called all the lawyers into her chambers for a pre-flight chat today…
We expect to see more detailed evidence from the arson investigation today. Look for our full story on #ABC10 at 5/6/630pm.
Judge Ashworth is on the bench. She’s clearing up a ruling about an objection yesterday over a recorded interview in evidence.
Shane Smith’s attorney Mark Reichel asks the judge to toss out count 4, the machine gun felony. It’s the only charge he faces that his dad doesn’t.
Reichel is pointing to federal case law out of Texas, which he says precludes states from prosecuting federal machine gun laws. The prosecution is arguing h that the decision is not binding in California, which is in a different federal court circuit.
Ashworth says she won’t rule on this motion now, but will allow both sides to submit written arguments in briefs.
The hearing opens with testimony about the searches of Travis Shane Smith’s home, from an El Dorado County DA office investigator who was part the team serving the search warrants.
He says:
Shane Smith resisted when the investigators tried to look in his safe, but complied after the team explained it was part of the search warrant— and that they would call a locksmith if he refused.
Incendiary rounds (ammunition designed to shoot sparks and start fires) were recovered when serving a second search warrant in September.
Coming back from lunch break, Judge Vicki Ashworth just called all the lawyers into her chambers to talk scheduling.
It's clear that this prelim is going to take longer than 2 days. Judge said she intends to run "continuously" until this hearing is done.
We left off before lunch with testimony about the weapons charges against the Smiths.
One investigator said 2 metal tubes were found in a burn pile while serving a warrant-- these are the silencers that the Smiths are accused of possessing. (a felony in CA)
In addition to the shell casings, Swanson says he located several copper bullet fragments.
Some were found "in the black"-- the forest floor burned in the fire. Swanson says this can be an indicator the fragments are involved in the cause.
He also found earplugs nearby. They were submitted for DNA testing...
This is the prosecutors seeking to build hard evidence that the Shane and David Smith were in the area and that they were shooting guns in dangerous fire weather conditions.
These details are coming out in crumbs, along with the boilerplate this-is-how-we-find-the-location-where-the-fire-came-from-and-went testimony to explain how arson investigators do their basic job.
NOW: The father-son duo accused of starting the #CaldorFire in 2021 are sitting in a Placerville courtroom this morning.
Travis Shane Smith (left) and his father David Smith (right) face 3 felony counts of reckless arson, accused of sparking the #wildfire while shooting in a drought-parched forest. They face felony weapons charges as well.
The Caldor Fire burned down Grizzly Flats and forced the evacuation of all of South Lake Tahoe, shutting down highways 50 & 88 for weeks.
Today is the start of a 2-day mini-trial called a preliminary hearing.
The prosecution needs to prove probable cause to the judge in order to force a jury trial.
The Caldor Fire preliminary hearing continues at a sluggish pace.
The Smiths' legal team went on record with reporters in the break to say that the father & son did not start the fire-- but they wouldn't comment when asked if the Smiths had weapons that day.
We've heard from a USFS officer about Travis Shane Smith's call to 911 to report the fire. She says he claimed to be in the area "to check out some campsites," and he made no mention of shooting weapons.
Now up is #CalFire fire investigator Erik Fiedler. He interviewed a witness who picked David Smith out of a photo lineup, potentially putting him at the scene.
Just another day at the office for #USAF 9th Reconnaissance Wing. Drone and U-2 pilots based at Beale AFB get their training hours in Talon T-38s. This one cruised up the spine of the #Sierra, over #Yosemite and Kirkwood, looped #LakeTahoe, and buzzed my neighborhood on their way home.
@RepMcClintock Boy. #lakeTahoe this guy is your rep. He is making Northern California look stupid right now.
Hey.. McClintock. Hunter Biden is not in the government. Hunter Biden did NOT leverage his role govt to get a $2billion pay out from MBS. #garland
Get rid of McClintock
Early start today in a muggy, damp Placerville, #California… where we’ll have a status update in People vs. Smith: the #CaldorFire reckless arson case against a father-son pair.
The fire burned for weeks and forced the evacuation of most of the #LakeTahoe basin in 2021.
The 2-day preliminary hearing (mini bench trial to establish probable cause) was supposed to start tomorrow, but we expect it to be delayed. #abc10#wildfire
David and Travis Shane Smith, the father-son duo charged with reckless arson in the 2021 #CaldorFire, will face preliminary hearing October 10 in El Dorado Superior Court.
They gave one-word answers to the judge when asked if they agreed to waive their speedy trial rights to allow for the delay.
The arson counts against them carry potential sentences of 6 years. There are also weapons charges in the case.