Crossan Hoover

Case record: Crossan David Hoover

Background

Crossan David Hoover was a seventeen-year-old employee of Mark Richards and Andrew.

A conspiracy involving a group called “Pendragon” was discussed at weekly meetings attended by Mark Richards and teenage followers. The Leader described plans for an uprising beginning when the country's economy collapsed, with a laser-gun to be aimed towards San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge. The rebels were to seal off roads leading in and out of Marin County and establish fortified headquarters in the romanesque, castle-like buildings of the San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo. Both the Golden Gate Bridge and the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge were to be destroyed. Prisoners were to be released from San Quentin Prison because the insurgents did not want to take responsibility for them.

Some of the would-be knights had doubts about the scheme, including that the laser-gun on “Mount Tam” had not yet been invented. The Leader conceded that point but said financing had been obtained for other weapons, including machine-guns and missiles, and that stockpiling was under way on Mount Tam and in Fresno. When members of the Pendragon group decided to leave, the Leader threatened death if disclosure occurred.

During the course of the later proceedings described in the record, the Pendragon conspiracy did not figure significantly in the prosecution's presentation of the case against Hoover.

The offence

Richard A. Baldwin, owner of a vintage-auto restoration shop called The Classic Car on Front Street in San Rafael, was found dead floating near the Sisters Island in San Pablo Bay.

The body was recovered on Tuesday night, July 13, 1982. The body was wrapped in a plastic tarpaulin and a bamboo screen. The neck and ankles were bound with television cable, rope and duct-tape, and the body was weighted down with a small outboard motor. Baldwin had a fractured left side of his skull and had been stabbed to the heart.

Hoover’s role was described as part of the killing and the disposal of the body. The record stated that Hoover kept talking after arrest and gave an account in which Richards promised money and Hoover agreed to participate.

The record described an admitted murder scheme in which, at the time of the murder, Richards, Hoover and Andrew were remodeling Baldwin's home. Hoover stated that Richards and he had lured Baldwin to the auto shop on the pretext of looking at Baldwin’s inventory of classic cars. When Richards scratched his head as a prearranged signal, Hoover slugged Baldwin on the head with a baseball bat and hit him three more times after he fell. Hoover then stabbed Baldwin with a knife and a screwdriver. Afterwards, Richards and Hoover returned to Baldwin’s home, with Andrew standing guard, and removed the safe and other property. The body was wrapped at the shop and delivered by a boat Richards had just purchased to a planned location in the bay.

Hoover’s confession indicated a motive described as financial: Hoover said his only regret was poor planning and that he wanted “the $5000 and the car.”

Investigation

The detective team arrested Mark Richards, aged twenty nine, and two seventeen-year-old boys as they were leaving Richards’s house in Sleepy Hollow in a pickup truck.

The detective team stated it had been led to the arrests by Hoover's loose talk. Fellow workers had heard “Crossie” boast that, in Richard’s presence, he had clubbed and stabbed Baldwin to death at the auto shop on July 6.

Police believed the murder conspirators had taken Baldwin’s house-keys from the shop and used them to burglarize Baldwin’s residence. The police believed the burglary involved several guns, a plastic trash-bag full of marijuana, and a safe. The marijuana and some guns were recovered on Friday in searches of the homes of Richards and the two boys, but the safe was not yet found.

After being taken into custody, Hoover kept talking. In a ninety-minute confession, Hoover told the police that his employer planned the killing. Hoover said Richards’s business was “hurting for money” and claimed that Baldwin owed him $3000. Hoover agreed to the murder when Richards promised Hoover $5000 and a car.

Hoover’s confession included the following statements, quoted verbatim:

"I've been stupid. I should have gotten the cash before so I could have taken off for Brazil or someplace. . . . I didn't want to hurt the man. It was the money; all I wanted was the $5000 and the car. Richards got my mind so psyched up that I freaked out. . . . I did it all . . . Just put me away."

Hoover’s confession described luring Baldwin to the auto shop on the pretext of looking at his inventory of classic cars and then clubbing and stabbing Baldwin, followed by disposal actions involving wrapping the body and delivering it by boat.

Mark Richards was interviewed shortly after arrest and denied involvement in Baldwin’s murder. Richards offered an account of his whereabouts on July 6 that the record stated did not ring true.

The record described police searches and reporting on July 22. On that date, the Marin Independent Journal reported results of a search under a headline, “BIZARRE PLOT FOR MARIN COUP?” The reporting warned of a “secret organization, called Pendragon,” planning an armed takeover of Marin. It described maps, aerial photographs of Marin County, plans for a laser-gun, instructions for construction of machine-guns, notebooks referencing a new form of government, and the taking away of weapons. The report triggered controversy and responses by defense and local police officials.

Captain Richard Douglas said, in a quoted statement, that “This is a homicide for financial gain.” The editorial of July 28, 1982 warned against assuming that “being a fantasy buff suggests criminal intent.” It cited a “Battle of San Pablo Bay” item described as involving “the airmen drop bombs (sacks of flour) on a Gaelic flotilla (pleasure boats) and then, afterwards, friend and foe share refreshments.”

Arrest

At 7 a.m. on Friday, July 16, investigators arrested Mark Richards, aged twenty nine, and two seventeen-year-old boys as they were leaving Richards’s house in Sleepy Hollow in a pickup truck.

The two seventeen-year-old boys included Crossan David Hoover and a youth named Andrew.

Trial

Pre-trial and evidentiary rulings (context for Hoover)

In May 1984, the legal battles in the murder case of Hoover were renewed. After a secret hearing granted to avoid prejudicing potential jurors, Justice Louis H. Burke ruled that Hoover’s confession would not be admissible at trial.

The tape-recording of Hoover’s statement indicated that San Rafael police sergeant Walt Kosta advised Hoover of the right as a juvenile to have one of his parents present during questioning. Hoover had answered that he wanted his mother called. The judge stated that Kosta should have immediately stopped the questioning, but instead asked Hoover to reconfirm his wish to have his mother brought to the station before talking to the police. The record stated that Hoover withdrew his request and proceeded with the interview without his mother present.

Charges and arguments

During Hoover’s five-week trial, the Pendragon conspiracy did not figure significantly in the prosecution’s presentation.

Deputy District Attorney Berberian advanced the argument that Hoover was motivated by Richards’s promise of money. The record described Berberian’s hypothesis that Hoover saw Richards’s “blood money” as a means of “buying the love he never had to alleviate the frustration in his life.”

Evidence presented against Hoover

Despite suppression of Hoover’s confession, the prosecution introduced a chain of evidence against Hoover that included testimony that Hoover bragged about killing a man and the presence of Hoover’s fingerprints at the scene of the crime.

A defense strategy acknowledged participation. Defense counsel Edward Torrico conceded that Hoover participated in Baldwin's murder but argued Hoover was mentally disturbed at the time.

Insanity plea and rejection

After a day of deliberations, the Marin Superior Court jury found Hoover guilty.

The jury considered Hoover’s insanity plea. Dr. Roman Rodriquez testified for the defense supporting Torrico’s argument that Hoover had slipped into a temporary psychotic state at the time he struck the fatal blows.

The prosecution countered with comments Hoover made to a clinical psychologist in September 1982 regarding his state of mind just before the killing. The record quoted these comments verbatim:

"It was like Richards was coaching me. He would listen to what I said and push me on. When I was with Baldwin, I kept thinking, this is the guy standing between me and money. It made me excited. I thought about guns I could buy and all the other stuff. I knew it was wrong, but I didn't give a damn. Did you ever think of getting $5000? Did you even think of wanting to be with your mother? My mother would come back to Marin County. I could have my own room so I wouldn't have to look at her all the time. Oh, man. I was just thinking of how happy I'd be, how much love I would get, how many things I'd have."

The jury rejected Hoover’s insanity defense.

Sentencing

In November 1984, Hoover was sentenced to twenty-six years to life.

Before sentencing and trial-stage juvenile status issues were litigated. After Hoover’s arrest, Hoover’s lawyers argued that he should be tried as a juvenile.

A child psychiatrist, Dr. Roman Rodriquez, testified that Hoover was suffering from a borderline personality disorder and that there was a “good chance” he would not kill again if properly treated. Berberian asked whether Rodriquez was willing to bet his life on his prediction. Rodriquez replied with “no guarantees.”

Rodriquez testified that Hoover was “a tool” in Richards's murder plan and, because of mental condition and learning disability, was incapable of planning and carrying out the crime on his own. Rodriquez recommended confinement in a mental hospital for long-term intensive treatment.

The record stated that Berberian sought sterner treatment for Hoover. Hoover had told another psychiatrist that he found killing “as easy as brushing your teeth,” and advocated his trial as an adult, which could entail a prison term of twenty-five years to life compared with a maximum five-year term for juvenile prosecution.

Juvenile Court Judge Peter Allen Smith ruled for the prosecution, finding Rodriquez’s testimony too speculative and highly optimistic.

Appeals

In February 1987, Hoover’s conviction was affirmed by a California appellate court.

Outcome

The jury found Hoover guilty, rejected Hoover’s insanity defense, and Hoover was sentenced to twenty-six years to life in November 1984.

Hoover’s conviction was affirmed in February 1987.

Other details

Hoover’s family name context appeared in testimony about Richards’s former wife, Caryn, who reassumed her family name, Cerutti.

The record described in-court controversy over Mark Richards’s gun possession claim during the trial proceedings and additional defense testimony about seeing Richard Baldwin alive on the night of July 6, followed by rebuttal evidence showing Hudsmith had been mistaken as to the date. Those events were described as part of the larger Richards trial narrative but occurred in the same trial proceedings described in the record.