A Burney woman who faces retrial in the shooting death of her husband 18 years ago had her bail reduced Wednesday.
But a judge also denied Kristi Lunbery’s attempt to remove her trial lawyer from the case and replace him with her appellate lawyer from San Francisco.
Lunbery was convicted of second-degree murder in 2004 for shooting to death her husband, Charles Albert Bateson, as he slept in bed in the couple’s home.
But a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the conviction earlier this year, saying the trial judge failed to consider evidence that someone else killed Lunbery’s husband.
Retired Shasta County Superior Court Judge Richard McEachen on Wednesday ordered her bail reduced from $500,000 to $100,000.
Shasta County public defender Jeff Gorder argued that Lunbery, who recently was transferred from state prison to Shasta County jail, has no money and no reason to flee Shasta County.
“Everything she loves in life is here in Shasta County,” Gorder said.
Deputy District Attorney Kelly Kafel argued that because she has spent the past six years in prison, Lunbery is even more of a flight risk.
McEachen disagreed. “She has a substantial interest in obtaining a jury verdict,” McEachen said.
More than 20 family and friends traveled from Burney for Wednesday’s hearing. Lunbery’s mother, Marie Conley, said outside court that she and other family members plan to raise the money to post bail for her.
While the bail reduction was good news to the family, they were disappointed that McEachen didn’t agree to let Juliana Drous defend Lunbery in a new trial.
“We were hoping we could get Julie to take over because she’s worked with her (Lunbery) for five years,” Conley said.
Drous represented Lunbery through the appellate process that ended when the appellate court ordered a new trial.
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