YAKIMA — Defense attorneys rested their case Monday, March 7, 2022, in James Dean Cloud’s mass murder trial after six days of testimony that included gruesome details and photos of the crime scene.
James Cloud and Donovan Quinn Carter Cloud are accused of a June 8, 2019, shooting rampage that left five dead west of White Swan on the Yakama Reservation. Killed were Dennis Overacker, 61, John Cagle, 59, Michelle Starnes, 51, Catherine Eneas, 49, and Thomas Hernandez, 36.
The Clouds have been charged in U.S. District Court with murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon and brandishing a firearm with intent to commit bodily injury.
They’re being tried separately. James Cloud’s trial began Feb. 28. Donovan Cloud’s trial is expected to follow.
James Cloud’s trial was marked by conflicting testimony. A material witness — who was also a shooting victim — was excluded because of her efforts to secure favors from the FBI for testifying.
Judge Salvador Mendoza Jr. denied a motion to dismiss that was based on events involving the witnesses’ exclusion and later denied an acquittal requested by the defense, who argued that prosecutors failed to prove the murders were premeditated.
The Clouds’ charges include four counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder.
Prosecutors say the Clouds are responsible for the shooting deaths and relied on the testimony of two others with them that day: Morris Bruce Jackson and his niece, Natasha Jackson.
Morris Jackson said he and his niece found themselves caught in an incident that turned ugly and were more focused on surviving and getting away than anything else.
But defense attorneys said it was James Cloud who got swept up into it all.
Morris Jackson said he was able to take possession of a .22-caliber rifle from James Cloud after things went bad at Cagle’s trailer.
He said James Cloud admitted to shooting and killing Cagle before shooting and killing Hernandez.
Overacker was shot while sitting in his pickup. Two others were shot in the truck but survived: Lindell LaFollette and Esmeralda Zaragoza.
Natasha Jackson said her uncle was the one who shot at the pickup with a shotgun.
LaFollette said a man wearing a red shirt shot Overacker, but he didn’t see where the birdshot that struck him in the head and neck came from.
He confirmed his previous statements to investigators identifying Morris Jackson as the man who shot at the pickup with a shotgun.
Natasha Jackson said James Cloud was wearing a red shirt.
Expert witnesses said all the victims were killed with shots from a small-caliber firearm.
Yakima County Sheriff’s Deputy Jesus Arreguin said the birdshot that hit LaFollette was fired from a shotgun.
A photo of Zaragoza’s shoulder wounds was consistent with birdshot or buckshot, he said.
The Clouds are also accused of a carjacking and kidnapping at a home a few miles away from the shooting scene. The family testified that Donovan Cloud put a gun to head of one son, demanding keys, and forced the boy into a truck. The boy managed to jump from the truck’s bed as it was leaving the property, his parents told jurors.
Jury instructions will be given before closing arguments begin Tuesday.
