D.A. Fails For Fourth Time In Making Murder Charges Stick

A judge today dismissed a murder charge against a woman accused of taking part with her boyfriend in a slaying with satanic overtones at her Palm Springs condominium, but prosecutors immediately filed an accessory- to-murder count against her.

It was the fourth time prosecutors had filed a first-degree murder charge against 39-year-old Cara Williams-Covert and, by all indications from what transpired in court today, it will be their last.

Superior Court Judge William S. Lebov granted defense attorney Denise Shaw’s motion to dismiss the murder count, which stipulated that the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office did not follow the proper legal steps in refiling the charge.

Williams-Covert, whose boyfriend was convicted of second-degree murder in the November 2009 death of Larry Roger Fisk of Apple Valley, remains in custody because prosecutors immediately filed the felony accessory charge against her.

“They never had the evidence (for murder),” Shaw said outside the courtroom. “That’s always been my position.”

Two judges previously agreed with her, refusing to hold Williams-Covert to answer to murder, and a third said it would be a difficult case to prove, but prosecutors continued to pursue the charge.

When filing the most recent murder case in May, the prosecution did not submit the proper paperwork — grounds for today’s dismissal.

“You have made it difficult for everyone involved,” Lebov told prosecutors.

Deputy District Attorney Pete Nolan argued against a full dismissal, saying Williams-Covert should still be prosecuted for having an alleged role in the killing.

“I’m asking the court to allow the amended complaint because it is the appropriate remedy based on the circumstances,” Nolan said.

Shaw countered that “the only remedy at this point is dismissal,” and indicated that she would file a motion for dismissal of the accessory charge before her client’s scheduled June 23 preliminary hearing.

“(Laws) were enacted to protect against abusive prosecution and the harassment of a defendant,” Shaw said, “which is exactly what has happened in this case.”

Judge Victoria E. Cameron concluded after a preliminary hearing in May there was “just no evidence” that Williams-Covert knew her boyfriend, 49-year- old Dale Farquhar, would murder Fisk when she brought him back to her Palm Springs condo on Nov. 13, 2009.

Prosecutors alleged the couple came to Palm Springs in October 2009 to write a horror script and commit mass murder.

During Farquhar’s trial, Deputy District Attorney Otis Sterling said a journal showed that Williams-Covert called herself a “witch” and Farquhar identified himself as a “true demon” and a “sociopath.”

Shaw, however, has contended that prosecutors overreached when connecting the journal to the murder.

“This sensationalized demon and witch case — it just isn’t there,” Shaw has said.

In the script, Farquhar played a character named Dave Hatcher, a transsexual in an open relationship with a “witch” named Cat, prosecutors said. Williams-Covert played Cat, a methamphetamine addict who lured men to their condominium for sex, they said.

Prosecutors allege Williams-Covert was acting out the script when she lured the 57-year-old victim from a bar back to the condo to his eventual death.

Farquhar was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison on his second- degree murder conviction.

Shaw alleges that the prosecution’s inability to get a first-degree murder conviction against Farquhar has led to a vendetta against her client.

“What an abuse of power,” she alleged after today’s hearing.

Though Shaw indicated in prior court sessions that her client would plead guilty to being an accessory to murder, she made no such admission when Lebov asked that question today.

“Legally, we are still exploring options based on my client’s constitutional rights,” Shaw responded.

Williams-Covert would face up to three year in prison on an accessory charge versus a potential life sentence on a murder conviction.

Her bail was reduced today from $1 million to $5,000, but Shaw said Williams-Covert is unlikely to bail out until she has exhausted her dismissal options.