Hoover

ORDER GRANTING A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS

I. Factual and Procedural Background

A. Court of Appeal Decision and Findings of Fact

Crossan David Hoover, Jr. was convicted June 22, 1984 of first degree murder, with use of a deadly weapon. Five days after his conviction, the jury found him to be legally sane. The California Court of Appeal, King, J., affirmed his conviction and the California Supreme Court denied review. The court of appeal found the facts to be as follows:

“The killing occurred within the context of a bizarre conspiracy, led by Mark Richards, for a paramilitary takeover of Marin County and creation of a modern-day Camelot with Richards as King Arthur and his crew of teenaged construction workers as his knights. Richards, a 29-year-old contractor, employed a number of teenagers, including 17-year-old Hoover. In regular meetings, Richards promoted his plan to isolate Marin County by destroying the Golden Gate and Richmond-San Rafael bridges and to defend the new kingdom through the use of laser guns placed on Angel Island and Mt. Tamalpais. The conspiracy was called Pendragon.

“Richards developed financial difficulties in mid-1982. He decided to kill his friend…