Rains Brothers Acquitted of Poaching

Clam poaching charges filed August 1, 2004 led to a trial at the Levy County Court House September 27. A jury acquitted James Wesley Rains and his brother Samuel Garrett Rains of charges of grand theft, charges that could have resulted in maximum sentences of five years in prison.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs officials initially charged the brothers with grand theft, witness tampering and trespass following a two month investigation by Inspector Diana Ullery. Her testimony and the testimonies of David McCumbers and Christopher Reynolds were presented as evidence by State Attorneys Glenn Bryan and Paul Vicary. Inspector Ullery's investigation was in response to a complaint by Christopher Reynolds, a Cedar Key clam farmer. David McCumbers testified that he had seen the Rains brothers taking bags of clams from an area leased by Reynolds. Inspector Ullery said that both brothers had changed their stories during her interrogation of them.

The Rains brothers were represented by Dean Galigani of Gainesville who repeatedly challenged the eyesight, memory and ability to judge distance of the key witness for the prosecution, namely David McCumbers. McCumbers was working on a clam lease adjacent to the Reynold lease where an estimated four hundred bags of clams were declared missing. The value of the missing clams was said to be approximately one hundred dollars per bag in a Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs news release. During the trial the value of the bags of clams was said to be between $106 and $156. Those amounts would have made conviction of the charges felonies.

The defense attorney produce a witness, Randall Lashley, who testified that he heard Reynolds say that he has looked but found no clams to be missing in June of 2004. The prosecution questioned Lashley's ability to recall Reynold's exact words when Lashley admitted that he could not remember all of the people present during the conversation about clam poaching. Furthermore, both of the Rains brothers took the witness stand and flatly denied that they had taken clams from the Reynolds lease.

Both the prosecution and the defense mentioned the possibility of a reward that might be given for testimony leading to a conviction. David McCumbers denied that that influenced his testimony, but remained firm in his statement that he had seen the Rains brothers taking clams.

The jury of five women and one man returned verdicts of not guilty for both of the Rains brothers in less than one half hour after receiving detailed instructions from Judge Joseph Smith.

Wesley Rains (left),Atty. Dean Galigani (center) and Garrett Rains (right) immediately after hearing not guilty verdict.