PRESS RELEASE

AS HEARD IN COURT FEBRUARY 17, 2023

PEOPLE V. STANLEY SCOTT GRUNDY – Defendant was convicted of a felony violation of Penal Code section 192(a)/193(a), Voluntary Manslaughter with special enhancement, 12022.5(a), Personal Use of a Firearm. Defendant was sentenced to the maximum sentence the law allows to 21 years state prison. This case was prosecuted by ADA Neumann with assistance from retired DDA Vacek, CHP - Willows Officer Cushman, and Glenn County Sheriff's Office Detectives Lopeteguy and Barnes, Deputy Thompson, and Sergeant Felton, FBI Agent Wales, DA Chief Investigator Knight, and Victim Witness Advocate White.

This incident occurred on or about March 8, 2019, Defendants Stanley Scott Grundy, Lane Cleo Walker, and John Cornelis Poldervaart were with now deceased Michael Paul Oliveira at Oliveira’s residence to confront victim, Brandon Dawson. A confrontation ensued with a four-on-one fight where Defendants Grundy, Walker, and Poldervaart joined Oliveira to beat victim Dawson into submission, subsequently handcuffing his hands and zip tying his feet. Dawson was driven to Willows by Grundy in Grundy’s van with Walker and Poldervaart as passengers. Oliveira was following in a separate vehicle, Dawson’s BMW. In Willows, Oliveira and Poldervaart left the area together leaving Grundy and Walker with Dawson in Grundy’s van. Grundy and Walker drove Dawson approximately an hour and 20 minutes away from Willows to a location in the foothills of Colusa County where Grundy personally used a firearm to shoot Dawson in the head, causing Dawson’s death. Grundy and Walker burned Dawson’s body and then left the scene. Grundy then returned to the homicide crime scene later in the evening with co-Defendant Clayton Shane Humphrey to bury the body and remove the handcuffs. Grundy and Humphrey purchased a Dremel tool and a shovel from Walmart in Willows to remove the handcuffs, but were unable to do so with these tools. Humphrey used a knife and shovel to remove the handcuffs from Dawson’s body by removing Dawson’s hands from his deceased body. Grundy and Humphrey buried Dawson’s body in a shallow grave in the foothills of Colusa County. Without the cooperation of witnesses who provided critical information to law enforcement, this case could not have been solved and prosecuted. Our offices expresses condolences to the Dawson and Skidmore family for the loss of Brandon Dawson.