Charges juggled in attempted murder of deputy case

A preliminary hearing was delayed Wednesday for the Colusa man charged with shooting a sheriff’s deputy and his own grandmother in 2008.

Charges against Richard Carl Marez were dismissed briefly Wednesday in Colusa County Superior Court after Judge John H. Tiernan was informed that witnesses from the Colusa County Sheriff’s Office were not available to due to a training exercise, authorities said.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Bates immediately refiled the felony charges, which include two counts of attempted murder and assault with an automatic weapon.

Through his attorney, Albert Smith, Marez, 27, entered “not guilty” pleas and a new preliminary hearing was set for May 20.

The charges stem from a July 19, 2008, shootout with Colusa County sheriff’s Sgt. Mark Troughton, in which Troughton and Helga Marez, the defendant’s grandmother, were shot.

Troughton has since recovered from his injuries. Bullet fragments remain inside Helga Marez’s leg, authorities said.

The shootout occurred around 5:30 p.m. inside the grandmother’s home in the 3500 block of Highway 45, north of Colusa.

Troughton responded to a 9-1-1 domestic dispute call made by the grandmother. Authorities said Richard Marez opened fire on the sergeant just moments after his arrival.

Marez is accused of firing nine shots from a 9mm, striking his grandmother once, and hitting Troughton in the arm and on the buckle of his utility belt, which reportedly wound up lodged in a wall, authorities said.

Troughton returned fire, shooting six rounds, but the defendant was not injured.

Marez was arrested behind the house, near the Sacramento River a short time later, authorities reported.

In September 2008, Tiernan ruled that Marez was unable to understand the charges against him or aid his attorney and was ordered to undergo treatment at Napa State Hospital later the same month.

Marez was transferred back to the Colusa County Jail on Feb. 9, where he continues to be held on $1 million dollars bail