Bates pleads guilty to manslaughter

A Loomis man accused in the brutal 2003 beating death of Samuel Wilson pleaded guilty Tuesday in an Auburn courtroom.Damon Weston Bates, 30, has been held at the Placer County Jail without bail since his September 2003 arrest."Mr. Bates pled guilty to a count of manslaughter, two counts of assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury and guilty to making criminal threats and to transportation of more than one ounce of marijuana," Jeff Wilson, deputy district attorney for Placer County, said Thursday. "They are all felonies."He said the agreed-upon sentence is seven years in the California Department of Corrections.Bates' court-appointed attorney, Michael Bolton, did not return multiple telephone calls by press time..Wilson's badly beaten body was found in the early morning hours Sept. 8, 2003, near the Auburn Journal employee parking lot on East Placer Street in downtown Auburn.Bates' case was heard before a jury last year. After much deliberation the 12 could not come to a decision and were split 9-3 on a charge of second-degree murder.On the night of Sept. 7 Bates and friends William Harden and Michaela Whitten attended the Gold Country Fair in Auburn. They later went to Pistol Pete's Brew and Cue on Harrison Street. Whitten has testified that she discovered her purse was missing. A short time later, another man, Austin Brooks, approached the group and told them he knew where the purse was.Brooks reportedly led the trio to a transient camp near Crutcher Court in downtown Auburn, where they proceeded up a walkway to get back the purse. A fight broke out, leaving Wilson bleeding to death.Brooks, 23, has pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge for his part in the beating death of 32-year-old Wilson. Brooks is serving an 11-year prison term.Had Bates been found guilty of the charge of second-degree murder he would have faced 15 years to life in prison.Final judgement and sentencing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Feb. 22 in Dept. 13 of Placer County Superior court.- Penne Usher can be reached at penneu@goldcountrymedia.com.