The prosecution will take 30 days to consider a plea agreement offered by the defense attorney for triple-murder suspect Mauricio Johnson.

This morning both Deputy District Attorney Roger Rees and defense attorney Andrea Sullivan asked Judge Christopher Wilson for a continuance in the preliminary hearing for the 19-year-old Johnson, charged with shooting three people to death on Feb. 10 on the Bear River Rancheria.

Johnson.

“I have floated an offer to the prosecution,” Sullivan said.

Rees said he and District Attorney Maggie Fleming have already met once with family members and friends of the victims, and a second meeting is planned to get their feedback on any possible plea bargain. Johnson is looking at life in prison without possibility of parole if convicted of all charges and special allegations.

“We want to reach out to the victims again and have another meeting,” Rees said, “before we make a final determination on Mr. Johnson’s offer.”

Johnson, who was arrested in Utah the day after the killings, did not come to the hearing today. About a dozen people were in the courtroom audience to watch the proceeding. The next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 2. On that date it’s expected that either the case will resolve or a preliminary hearing date will be set.

Johnson was booked into Humboldt County Correctional Facility in May after fighting extradition from Utah for three months. He is charged with murdering Margarett Lee Moon and her fiance Nikki Dion Metcalf, both 40, along with Moon’s 16-year-old daughter Shelly Moon.

Johnson is being held without bail.

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Mamea.

A trial date of Aug. 30 was confirmed today for an Arcata man suspected of attempting to murder a 50-year-old man who was repeatedly stabbed as he slept on a Eureka street.

Deputy Public Defender Casey Russo, representing Tory Tasi Parker Mamea, told Judge Kaleb Cockrum he is ready to proceed to jury trial in the case. Mamea, 28, is accused of attempted murder and weapons violations. He allegedly stabbed the man multiple times in the early morning hours of Sept. 24.

Eureka police, after conducting an extensive investigation, arrested Mamea at his home on Nov. 4.

Mamea was in the courtroom this morning.

Deputy District Attorney Trent Timm was in court for the prosecution.

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Tanner.

Doctors appointed to evaluate murder suspect Ryan Anthony Tanner failed to get their reports in today as scheduled.

“We haven’t heard from either doctor,” defense attorney Russ Clanton told visiting Judge Marjorie Lord Carter this morning. Tanner has entered a dual plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity to the killing of Jason Todd Garrett. An eyewitness has testified Tanner forced Garrett into a bathtub, shot him with an assault rifle and then buried him under a water tank on Tanner’s rural Southern Humboldt property.

The next hearing for receipt of the doctors’ reports is scheduled for Aug. 18.

Tanner faces life in prison if found guilty and sane, and life in a mental hospital if found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Deputy District Attorney Jessica Acosta was in court today for the People. Tanner also was in the courtroom in person.

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Watson.

Sentencing for convicted murderer Brandon Watson will not proceed on Aug. 16 as scheduled.

Andrea Sullivan, defense attorney for Watson, told visiting Judge Marjorie Lord Carter she does not plan to file a motion for new trial, but the verdict will be appealed. Also, Sullivan wants another attorney appointed to interview Watson about whether he believes she represented him effectively.

In July a jury found Watson guilty of murdering a man during a bar fight in Arcata and stabbing and seriously injuring two men during a bar fight in Eureka. The maximum penalty is 35 years to life in prison.

Carter set an Aug. 15 hearing to confirm the new attorney has been appointed and to set a date for sentencing.

Deputy District Attorney Roger Rees, the trial prosecutor, said he wants the sentencing date to be certain. Family members of murder victim Peter “Bo” Triantos are in Alabama and want to book flights to attend the hearing, Rees said.

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