The following is a press release issued by the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office:
A Mendocino County Superior Court jury returned from its deliberations Thursday afternoon to announce that it had found the trial defendant guilty as charged.
The jury found defendant David Charles Giusti, age 67, generally of the Ukiah and Fort Bragg areas, guilty of felony first degree attempted murder of William Barry Gordon, said crime occurring just after midnight in the City of Ukiah on March 17, 2020 behind the CVS pharmacy.
The jury also found defendant Giusti guilty of assault on Mr. Barry by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury, also a felony.
Sentencing allegations alleging that the defendant personally used a dangerous or deadly weapon on Mr. Barry and that the defendant actually inflicted great bodily injury on the victim were found true by the jury.
After the jury was excused, the trial continued on the bifurcated issue of whether the defendant had suffered a prior Strike conviction in 1985.
The prosecutor presented certified court documents showing that defendant Giusti was convicted in 1985 of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, as well as the jury finding that the defendant actually inflicted great bodily injury on the victim in that earlier case. Based on the evidence presented, the Court found the People’s Strike allegation to be true.
The defendant’s case has now been referred to the Adult Probation Department for a background investigation and sentencing recommendation.
A sentencing hearing is now scheduled for May 19, 2022 at 9 o’clock in the morning in Department A of the Ukiah downtown courthouse.
The law enforcement agency that provided first responder medical aid to the badly beaten victim, then investigated the case, and finally developed the evidence supporting today’s guilty verdicts was the Ukiah Police Department.
Special scientific assistance and analysis of evidence was also provided by the California Department of Justice laboratory in Eureka and the Department of Justice DNA laboratory in Redding.
A special thank you is extended by the District Attorney to the medical professionals who treated the victim in the emergency department back in 2020 and appeared this week to testify before the jury during the course of the trial.
A special thank you is also extended to the woman who saved the victim’s life by picking up the phone and calling 9-1-1 to obtain help that night.
The prosecutor who presented the People’s evidence to the jury and argued for the verdicts that were returned was DA David Eyster.
Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Keith Faulder presided over the four-day trial and will be the sentencing judge in May.
