Oxnard Man Who Hit His Mother With Hammer Gets 4 Years

An Oxnard man who admitted clobbering his mother in the head with a hammer was sentenced Monday to four years in state prison.

David L. Bell III, 27, had pleaded guilty to assaulting his mother Sept. 12 when she tried to stop him from selling the family television set to buy cocaine. According to court records, it was the latest in a series of crimes by Bell against his parents, including the 1987 theft of $17,000 worth of goods that Bell sold to buy drugs.

In the hammer attack, the 480-pound, 6-foot-5 Bell struck his 56-year-old mother four times, causing a cerebral concussion and scalp cuts that forced her to be admitted to a hospital.

As in the previous cases, however, Bell’s mother did not want her only child to serve a prison sentence. In an interview with a probation investigator, Clarrissa Bell referred to the hammer attack as “a family matter between myself and David.”

Deputy Public Defender Duane Dammeyer argued Monday that because of the mother’s forgiving attitude, Bell should be sentenced to probation and County Jail rather than state prison. He said Bell, who served prison time for the 1987 thefts, had been “doing beautifully on parole” when the hammer attack occurred, and said the violence of the assault was “totally out of character.”

Judge Lawrence Storch interrupted and said Bell was definitely going to prison for a year under a state law that says sentences should be enhanced when the defendant already has done time in state prison.

“He’s going to the joint for a year,” Storch said. “You want probation after that?”

“Yes,” Dammeyer said. “His parents are willing to provide drug counseling. They don’t want him back in prison.”

In deciding on the four-year sentence, Storch acknowledged the parents’ desire to keep their son out of prison. But the judge said that consideration was outweighed by the seriousness of the offense and by the defendant’s extensive criminal history, which began in 1984 when Bell was convicted of pawning stolen stereo components. The following year, he admitted charging $727 on his mother’s credit card without authorization, according to court records.

In the 1987 case, Bell pleaded guilty to stealing two televisions, a video recorder, several guns and a pickup from his parents’ home and the family-owned beauty parlor. He told investigators that he sold the items and used the money to buy rock cocaine.

Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Charles R. Roberts Sr. agreed with Storch’s four-year sentence--three for the assault and one for the prior prison term.

“The defendant was previously sent to prison for victimizing his parents,” Roberts said. “He victimized his parents this time. Both times the excuse was that he was doing cocaine.”

Bell sat on the edge of his seat while the lawyers debated his fate, his girth too much to squeeze into the round-backed swivel chair provided for defendants. He said nothing at the hearing, but he told the probation officer earlier that he “didn’t know it was against the law to hit someone with a hammer,” according to the probation report.

Bell also told the interviewer that his father was strict, but that his mother always let him have his way. He said he still talks to both parents daily from Ventura County Jail.

Clarrissa Bell, who did not attend the sentencing, declined to comment. But in her interview with the probation officer, she minimized the seriousness of the assault.

“He just got kind of violent and wanted his way at that time,” she said. “And he got it.”