County Faces Contempt; Peeping Tom Held to Answer; Homicide and Robbery Co-Defendants Go to Prelim; and Billboard Wars – Inside Humboldt Courts

Humboldt County Superior Court handles a steady flow of criminal cases each day, but most proceedings pass without much public notice unless they result in major developments.

In this column, Redheaded Blackbelt provides a regular look at what’s moving through the local courts—tracking hearings, trials, and filings in cases that are either well known or warrant closer public attention. As always, any individuals described should be presumed innocent until proven guilty. 

FRIDAY’S ROUND-UP:

IN THE CASE OF: Anderson et al. vs. Providence St. Joes — Wrongful Death Suit Follows Police Shooting at Bear River

A grieving family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, alleging the hospital’s failure to secure their son during a psychiatric hold set in motion the chain of events that led to his death at the hands of Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies.

Nicholas Anderson raises his injured arm as a Deputy stands near by. [Photos provided by bystanders]

His mother, Ann Gormican Anderson, wrote in a guest opinion published by Redheaded Blackbelt in March that her son had been placed on a psychiatric hold — meaning medical professionals had determined he was a danger to himself — but, despite this, he somehow walked out of the hospital on his own.

“How does a suicidal patient on a psychiatric hold simply walk out of a hospital?” she wrote.

According to her account, Nicholas later checked into the Bear River Casino as a guest. Humboldt County Sheriff’s Deputies encountered him outside the community center, and allege that he had a pocket knife visible beside him. 

“What I see is a suicidal man in crisis,” his mother wrote. “Had deputies treated this as a mental health emergency and placed him on a 5150 hold — something clearly warranted — my son would likely still be alive. Instead, he was shot.” Ann Anderson closed her public letter with a message to the community, saying, “The next life lost could belong to someone you love.” 

Humboldt County Critical Incident Response Team and the District Attorney’s office later determined the officer “justifiably used deadly force.” 

A description of events offered by authorities described Anderson eloping from the hospital.  According to the DA’s press release, “At St. Joseph Hospital, initial assessments supported Mr. Anderson’s likely need for surgery and psychiatric intervention, however during early morning hours of June 5 he fled from the hospital.  Staff followed him a short distance but lost sight of him after he ran into a nearby wooded area.  Law enforcement was contacted to assist in locating him; however, Mr. Anderson was not located by authorities.” 

The family — including Ann Anderson, David Anserson, and the Estate of Nicholas Anderson — filed the civil lawsuit against Providence St. Joseph Hospital Eureka on May 20, 2026. Attorney Bradley Kramer represents them. No hearing date has been set.

IN THE CASE OF: Deunn Willis and Danielle Durand — Homicide and Robbery Suspects 

HCSO with the vehicle containing a detained person outside of the apartment building on H Street in Arcata on July 11, 2025. [Photo by Ryan Hutson] 

Deunn Antoine Willis, an Arcata man charged with murder, has been sitting in the Humboldt County Jail for more than ten months — 315 days as of Friday. The case stems from the July 8, 2025 shooting death of Joshua Lee McCollister, a 37-year-old Fort Bragg man, on Glendale Drive east of Fieldbrook. 

According to the felony complaint, Willis allegedly shot McCollister with a pistol while both he and co-defendant Danielle Roberta Durand robbed him. When SWAT moved in on an H Street residence in Arcata three days later, Durand slipped out in a vehicle — only to be caught in a felony traffic stop on Highway 101 near the Bayside Cutoff at the same moment Willis was taken into custody inside the house.

Willis’s bail is set at $750,000 and has not been posted. Attorney Gregory Kreis represents him.

Durand, also of Arcata, faces a robbery charge with a firearm allegation. She posted a $75,000 bond last July and has been out of custody since. Attorney Joanne Carter represents her.

Both appeared in court Friday for a routine scheduling hearing with no substantive rulings. A motion hearing is set for May 26, with the preliminary hearing on May 27. No trial date has been set. 

NOTE: Because independent courtroom reporting is expensive and time-intensive work, portions of this update are based on official court minutes and records rather than full in-person courtroom coverage. Reader support helps fund more firsthand reporting from inside Humboldt County courtrooms.

IN THE CASE OF: Allpoints Outdoor vs. Board of Sups — A Billboard Debate

Screenshot of the Elk River-area billboard after it was toppled during a winter storm in 2019. Supervisors later allowed it to be rebuilt under a five-year permit that has now expired. [Image from staff report] 

Allpoints Outdoor Inc., the local sign company that owns the structure, rebuilt the billboard under a special county permit after the storm knocked it over. But that permit came with a catch – the sign had to come down permanently by September 2025.

 When Allpoints asked the Board of Supervisors to extend the deadline and let the sign stay, the Board said no in a 3-2 vote this past February.

Now Allpoints has taken the County to court, arguing the Board overstepped and that removing the sign without compensation violates state law. According to Allpoints, the sign has been at that location since at least 1959, in coastal wetlands. A further hearing is scheduled for this November.

IN THE CASE OF: Redwood Oil Co. vs. Humboldt County — County in Contempt?

Redwood Oil Co., which operates the local Jacksons Food Stores chain, has been fighting Humboldt County for months over the right to sell tobacco products at three of its locations. A state administrative judge ruled in Redwood Oil’s favor back in January — but the County refused to follow that ruling and instead tried to retroactively change its own ordinance to keep blocking the licenses – according to court records.

Judge Canning stepped in this spring, ordering the County to comply. He also put $40,000 in a court-supervised holding account where it cannot be touched. That money represents fees the County had been billing Redwood Oil for the cost of the original appeals process, threatening to withhold license renewals unless the company paid up. The judge essentially told the Count to freeze those demands until the question of tobacco sales is settled. The County’s response? File an appeal — and then issue three new denial notices despite the ongoing litigation, which Redwood Oil’s attorneys called a direct violation of the court order.

Now a judge has signaled that the County may be held in contempt of court for defying his order. The County will need to appear in June to explain why it shouldn’t face sanctions for the alleged contempt of court, in willfully violating the judge’s order. Attorney Jeffrey Slack of Janssen Malloy LLP is fighting for Redwood Oil. County Counsel Destinee Valeska represents the County. 

The next court date is June 12, when a judge will hear the County’s argument that the lawsuit should be thrown out entirely — a legal move that sidesteps the merits of the tobacco license fight altogether.

IN THE CASE OF: Victor Phetsomphou — Cal Poly Peeping Tom Headed to Trial 

Victor Phetsomphou — the Arcata man arrested after he allegedly exposed himself and peeped into residence hall windows on the Cal Poly Humboldt campus — moved closer to trial on Friday when a judge ruled there was enough evidence to move his burglary case forward.

Phetsomphou, 24, is not a Cal Poly student. He was arrested in December 2025 after University Police linked him to an early-morning incident in the forested area near Granite Avenue Extension on campus, where he allegedly exposed himself. During that investigation, officers also discovered he had been peering into multiple windows of a campus residence hall. A search warrant was served at his Arcata home, and he was booked on charges including indecent exposure, lewd acts in public, peeping, and being masked while committing a crime.

That sex offense case is still pending — but Friday’s ruling was on a separate, older burglary charge that dates back to 2021, a case that had been stuck in limbo for years. A judge found sufficient evidence to hold him to answer on that charge. 

The next court date is June 5, when prosecutors plan to formally consolidate all of his pending cases — the burglary charge and the sex offense allegations — into a single unified proceeding.

If convicted of the indecent exposure charge, Phetsomphou would be required to register as a sex offender. The Public Defender represents him across all of his cases.

Humboldt County Correctional Facility. [Composite image for Inside Humboldt Courts by Ryan Hutson]

If you know of a case that has significant public interest that you would like followed, email us at [email protected] .

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