Judge Throws Out Manslaughter Case

A San Diego judge lambasted a prosecutor and accused him of harassment Friday as he threw out a case involving a Ramona man charged with voluntary manslaughter in the death of his best friend.

Superior Court Judge William D. Mudd dismissed charges against Lee McCalister, 46. Even though Deputy Dist. Atty. August Meyer had planned to try McCalister for a third time, Mudd said no jury would be able to decide on a verdict.

McCalister had been free on $50,000 bail, though he had served about six months in County Jail while awaiting his first trial.

The judge told more than a dozen friends and relatives of the victim and McCalister that, in a closed-door meeting, Meyer had promised to drop the charges if the second trial ended with a hung jury.

In earlier trials, two juries were unable to reach a decision on the charge of voluntary manslaughter. In the first trial, McCalister had been acquitted of murder and involuntary manslaughter.

Mudd based part of his decision on his recollection that no one had ever been tried three times locally for any crime.

McCalister, who was described by the judge as “an honorable man with no prior criminal record,” was arrested two days after 41-year-old Stephen Brown was shot and killed in McCalister’s garage on Nov. 14, 1990. He led police to the body, which he had buried near Pine Valley.

While McCalister, the only witness to the event, said the shooting was the result of an argument that quickly escalated after the two men used drugs, prosecutors said McCalister committed an unlawful act as he went into his house and retrieved a handgun.