Ahead of Prindel Creek Farm retrial, judge finds prosecutors late in handing over evidence

Defense attorneys representing a 57-year-old man being retried for murder were hindered by what they described as the late handover of video evidence, Lane County Circuit Judge Charles Zennaché found Wednesday, Oct. 28.

Zennaché’s ruling came on the day jury selection began for the second trial of Everett Scott Fuller, charged in connection with the December 2024 shooting of Christopher Lee Clark Jr., 32, also known as “Bubba.”

The fatal shooting took place on a remote property known as Prindel Creek Farm in northwest Lane County, about 25 miles east of Yachats in the Oregon Coast Range. Statements made in the first trial described multiple residents on the property, with some living in a house and others in a trailer or yurt.

Along with the death of Clark, another person on the property, Tyler Holloway, 26, died after being fatally shot by police who arrived several hours after the shooting of Clark.

Fuller claimed self-defense in the first trial, which ended with a deadlocked jury. Fuller, a self-described pacifist, testified that a fear of being pulled down from a raised platform onto a concrete floor led him to shoot Clark.

Deputy District Attorney Nicholas Geil in the previous trial, however, described Fuller as angry about the younger man’s romantic relationship with Fuller’s wife when he brought a pistol to a hang-out area known by residents as the “Packing Shed” and ultimately shot Clark.

Before jury selection began Wednesday, defense attorney Willow Hillman argued that evidence provided late to defense attorneys should not be allowed to be used by Geil.

Among the evidence listed by Hillman were about 1,000 pages of notes, documents and reports she said were created in 2024 and 2025 but not handed over until after Fuller’s first trial. Hillman said many of the documents appeared to be about the shooting death of Holloway.

Zennaché said he would generally not allow prosecutors to use materials provided to defense attorneys on dates in September and October near the trial, though he made an exception for some videos.

But not for an Oct. 31 video of a “scene walk-through” in which a Lane County Sheriff’s Office detective, Geil, eyewitnesses and other Prindel Creek Farm community members visited the location where the shooting took place, according to Hillman.

“It’s two hours of video of Detective Hudson and ADA Geil having conversation with both eyewitnesses,” Hillman said.

Hillman said she and Fuller’s other defense attorney, John Kolego, were not given the video until Friday, Oct. 23, despite having requested it earlier.

Geil argued that an order excluding the video would be “a severe remedy.” He questioned the date given by Hillman and Kolego for when the video was handed over but, after a brief computer search, Geil could not say when the video was released to them.

“The Friday before the trial in a murder case is inherently prejudicial to the defense,” Zennaché said, using a legal term, “prejudicial,” meaning to disadvantage a defendant in their right to a fair trial.

Zennaché said he would consider any evidence brought forward later by Geil if it shows defense attorneys were given the video at an earlier date.

But Zennaché spoke critically about the apparent late handover of the video.

“To wait almost two months before producing it on the eve of trial is not OK,” Zennaché said.

It’s not the first time a Lane County judge has been critical about the Lane County District Attorney’s Office over delays in providing evidence, also known as discovery, a legal term describing the exchange of information about evidence.

Lane County Circuit Judge Jay McAlpin wrote in July after declaring a mistrial in a case about a shooting at City Nights club that it was “at least, the third major case in 2026 in which discovery, provided after trial started, has resulted in a mistrial.”

McAlpin, in a written order, criticized “unnecessary delay in achieving a just result” and “incalculable inconvenience and expense to witnesses, experts, attorneys, jurors, parties and taxpayers.”

Jury selection was set to continue Thursday. Zennaché told potential jurors no proceedings would take place Monday, Nov. 2, and that he expected the trial to be wrapped up by Friday, Nov. 6.