'Reprehensible:' Trinity County pays $7 million to couple injured in knife attacks

Trinity County officials have agreed to pay $7 million to a couple that was seriously injured in a knife attack after a sheriff’s deputy asked them to check on their neighbor and they came upon the scene of a double homicide.

In their federal civil lawsuit against the county, James and Norma Gund of Kettenpom maintained sheriff’s Cpl. Ronald Whitman misled them into believing their neighbor might be having a weather-related problem at her home and told them to go to the woman's house to see if she needed help.

The Gunds were not told by Whitman that their neighbor was likely in danger, according to their lawyer, Benjamin Mainzer.

“On the contrary, the Gunds alleged Whitman withheld from them key facts about the call that had been previously communicated to him, including facts that pointed to a dangerous and likely violent incident underway. But the Gunds trusted that they were being told the truth and went to check on their neighbor, unconcerned for their safety,” Mainzer said.

“This settlement makes clear that what the county did to the Gunds was reprehensible,” Mainzer said. "The Gunds will be dealing with the consequences of the attack for the rest of their lives."

Trinity County Counsel Margaret E. Long said the county disputes that the Gunds were asked to enter their neighbor’s cabin, but instead were asked to merely view their neighbor’s house from their own adjoining property and look for any strange vehicles at the woman’s house.

However, the “county recognizes that these longstanding members of our Trinity County community suffered a horrific attack with significant injuries.  Accordingly, we believed it to be in everyone’s best interests to bring this lengthy litigation to a constructive conclusion,” Long said.

In 2020, the California Supreme Court it was immaterial whether Trinity County sheriff's officials withheld information from the Gunds. The Supreme Court also ruled the couple could collect state worker's compensation benefits because a sheriff's deputy had enlisted their help in the case, in effect making them law enforcement officers.

State Supreme Court rules against couple

The dispute in the case came down to whether Whitman asked the Gunds to look from their own property to see what was happening at their neighbor’s house or if he asked them to go to the neighbor's house to investigate.

According to court documents and Record Searchlight archives, here is what happened:

On March 13, 2011, the Gunds' neighbor Kristine Constantino called 911 and whispered "Help me" into the phone. The message was forwarded to the Trinity County Sheriff's Office.

Whitman knew the Gunds lived near Constantino in the remote southern Trinity County community of Kettenpom and asked them to check on her. At the time of the incident, Norma Gund was 49-years-old and James Gund was 59.

There had been a massive snow and wind storm the day of the 911 call and Whitman was more than two hours away in Weaverville.

Whitman mentioned the impending arrival of a major storm and allegedly told the Gunds this “must be what this is all about” and “it’s probably no big deal,” according to the court documents.

Bruce Haney, who was the sheriff at the time, denied the Gunds' allegations that Whitman told them to go to their neighbor's home, saying that although an employee did call the Gunds, he had only asked if they could see what was going on at Constantino's home from their house. Haney said the Gunds were told to stay put and wait for help.

Couple allege deputy withheld information

The Gunds allege Whitman never told them that just minutes earlier Constantino had called 911 "whispering help, help, over and over again."

The 911 dispatcher did not want to call Constantino back for more information because she felt Constantino was whispering to prevent someone from overhearing the phone conversation, according to court documents.

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When the couple arrived at Constantino's house, Norma Gund went into the house and found a grisly scene.

“There was blood all over the cabin,” Mainzer said in a statement. Two bodies were lying on the floor and it appeared both of them had been bound and tortured, Mainzer said.

When she entered the house, Norma Gund was attacked by a man who slashed her throat with a knife and zapped her with a stun gun. James Gund heard the commotion and went into the cabin after her.

The man turned on him, zapped him and attacked him with the knife. Both Gunds were able to eventually break free and drive to a nearby store and call for help.

Sheriff's deputies arrived to find Tomas Gouverneur had fatally stabbed Constantino, 33, and 26-year-old Christopher Richardson of Blodgett, Oregon.

Norma Gund spent several days at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento recovering from her wounds. James Gund was treated and released from the hospital. Gouverneur, 32, of Corvallis, Oregon, died later that day in a car crash after a police chase on Highway 101 in Mendocino County.

Attorney says sheriff's officials previously used civilians

Mainzer said that what happened with the Gunds was not an isolated incident and that “Trinity County has a history of placing civilians in danger.”

In 1997, the sheriff’s office asked Carole Laag to act as a negotiator after her neighbor, Haskell Hall, had barricaded himself in his trailer in Weaverville. When Laag entered the trailer, Hall stabbed and killed her.

After the stabbing, two deputies shot Hall five times. He died five days later at Mercy Medical Center in Redding.

Mainzer said the sheriff’s office admitted it had no evidence that it had implemented any policy changes following the Laag incident.

More: 'Horrific': California Supreme Court rules against couple in Trinity County slashing

After filing the lawsuit against Trinity County, another woman, Deena McGaughey, contacted Mainzer to tell him that back in 2008 sheriff’s deputies used a nearby resident as a decoy to distract a neighbor who had been shooting in the direction of her home.

“McGaughey said the responding deputy sheriff arranged for a nearby resident to dress up in camouflage clothing and run across McGaughey’s property in one direction so that he could search the property from another direction. It was McGaughey’s understanding that the deputy believed by doing this it would throw off the shooter and allow the deputy to better locate the shooter,” Mainzer said in his statement.

Mainzer said during the discovery phase of the lawsuit “Trinity County acknowledged that all records related to the McGaughey incident were destroyed.”

Reporter Damon Arthur welcomes story tips at 530-338-8834, by email at damon.arthur@redding.com and on Twitter at @damonarthur_RS. Help local journalism thrive by subscribing today!

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Trinity County pays $7 million to couple stabbed in knife attacks