DAVID S.

PERRINE
ATTORNEY AT LAW
Historic Pine Street School
______________________________________________________________________________
1135 Pine Street, Suite 210
P.O. Box 994668
T: (530) 245-1877
Redding, California 96001
Redding, California 96099
F: (530) 245-1879
dperrinelaw@att.net

December 21, 2014

Mike Harper
District Attorney
101 Court Street
Weaverville, CA
Re: James McStay
Dear Mr. Harper:
I am writing this letter on behalf of James McStay in helps to providing evidence of his character
including what I believe to be a grave injustice that may befall this person should the charges
pending against him not be dropped.
By introduction, I have been a practicing civil litigator for over twenty-one years in northern
California. During this time, my practice has focused primarily on insurance defense with the
exception of approximately two years after I sold my practice to a competing firm, to recover from
an invasive back surgery that left me unable to work for an indefinite period of time. Fortunately, I
was able to heal sooner than expected but was not able to return immediately to insurance defense
work in light of a non-compete clause entered in to between myself and the firm that took of my
book of business. As a result, in order to make a living I began to practice family for a short period
of time.
I came to know James McStay early on in his divorce proceedings when he retained my former
partner Katherine Townley. Due to circumstances which are irrelevant to this issue, Mr. McStay
opted to utilize my services instead.
I spent many hours in direct communication with Mr. McStay and spent many many hours
communicating with him via e-mail or over the phone. This was in preparation for the temporary
order of support and visitation rights pertaining to their children. I expected the hearing to go
relatively smooth knowing that Mr. McStays soon to be ex-wife is an attorney in the support
division at Trinity County and therefore is quite aware of these types of proceedings.
Suffice to say, it did not take long for me to form a completely different opinion of Robin McStay
and the complete lack of character, decency and professionalism she exhibited at the trial, in my
opinion. In my twenty-one years of practice, I have taken well over thirty-five jury trials to verdict
and have deposed close to five hundred deponents at this point in time. I cannot possibly

exaggerate in describing Robin as being unlike any individual I have ever come across in my
twenty-one years of practice.
On the stand, Ms. McStay was unbelievably hostile, disrespectful of The Judge and the
proceedings and would routinely shout or yell at me for asking a question she didnt want to
answer. At one point during cross examination, she actually shouted at me in response to a
question why are you asking me this, who do you think you are? mind you her attorney had no
objected to the question nor did The Judge sustain any objection. In my view, Robin demonstrated
a complete lack of honesty and integrity and conducted herself far below a decent person let alone
an officer of the Court.
I also strongly hold the opinion that there is literally nothing Robin McStay would not say or do in
order to manipulate a situation in order to get what she wants. I personally observed her act as
pleasant as one could imagine then literally become unhinged when the situation was not turning
out her way.
During this time I was involved with their divorce it was obviously an extremely intense hearing
that involved a great deal of emotion. At no time have I ever found Mr. McStay to exhibit any
ounce of aggressiveness. In fact, I have personally observed Mr. McStay to be an extremely docile
individual who while is extremely upset over the situation in which he finds himself, is incapable
of harming another human being. Nor is it in his character in my view to even threaten harm to
another human being.
I appreciate how difficult your job is in attempting to sort out truth from fiction. As outlandish as it
may sound, I do believe that Robin McStay, in my opinion, is capable of manipulating a situation
by coercing an attorney to fabricate a story regarding alleged threats that James McStay made. I do
not believe for a second that James McStay made the threats that he now being accused of any
more than I believe his current attorney has an ounce of fear towards Mr. McStay. One need only
look at the time sequence from when the alleged threat was made to when it was reported to
understand the lack creditability towards this alleged threat.
In closing, I agree that Mr. McStay is an intense individual who is very emotional and is
desperately trying to reconnect with the only thing that matters in this life, his children. Despite the
desperado position in which he finds him, I again cannot state more equivocally, this is not a
person I believe is capable of making a threat of harm towards any individual let alone carrying it
out. This simply is not in the genetics of James McStay in my view.
I appreciated your consideration of this matter. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you
wish to discuss any aspect of this issue further.
Yours truly,

David S. Perrine
DP: mn