Charges dropped in 2010 death of Thousand Palms man

Prosecutors have dropped all charges against a semi-truck driver who was accused of killing a Thousand Palms man in a 2010 hit-and-run accident.

The case against Dixon Russel Dixon, 41, of Victorville, was dismissed Friday due to lack of evidence. Witness accounts also called into question if Dixon was responsible.

“This just shows what we’ve said from the outset — this case was ridiculous,” said Greg Stone, a Woodland Hills attorney who represented Dixon. “The case never should have been filed in the first place.”

Dixon was charged with felony hit-and-run for the death of Frank Yarborough, 41, a motorcyclist who was found dead among a cluster of parked semi-trucks along Varner Road, just east of Ramon Road, on Jan. 7, 2010. Yarborough appeared to have been crushed by one of the big rigs, whose drivers often rest in this area during long trips on Interstate 10.

On the evening of Yarborough’s death, Dixon parked in the area to get some food from Del Taco. When he returned to his truck, police had gathered nearby, investigating the body of the motorcyclist. Police questioned Dixon and then let him go, only to arrest him three years later.

Stone, Dixon’s attorney, stressed that there were many semi-trucks in this area on the night that Yarborough was killed, and that witnesses gave conflicting reports of who was responsible. One witness said Yarborough was hit by an all-white truck, which Dixon’s truck was not. Another witness said the hit-and-run driver was a Latino man with shoulder length hair. Dixon is black with short, shaved hair.

In addition to charges being dropped in this criminal case, Dixon has also been cleared in civil court. Yarborough’s family sued the truck driver in 2012, but a jury ruled in Dixon’s favor in late July. Stone said it took the jury only 15 minutes to reach a verdict, which showed prosecutors they have little chance in criminal court, where the burden of truth is even higher.

Although prosecutors moved to dismiss the case on Friday, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office would not say if Dixon remained a suspect or was wrongfully accused. John Hall, a DA’s spokesman, said only that the dismissal was “in the interest of justice.”

“In any prosecution, we will only proceed with a case if we believe we can prove to a jury of 12 people that a defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. After a thorough and continuing review of the evidence, we did not believe that was possible in this case,” Hall said in an emailed statement.

Reporter Brett Kelman can be reached by phone at (760) 778-4642, by email at brett.kelman@desertsun.com, or on Twitter @TDSbrettkelman.