EUREKA — A man who was charged in the 1980s with killing his 3-month old daughter in San Mateo has resigned from a top Yurok Tribal Council post after his background came to light through social media.
James Dunlap’s resignation Tuesday from the post of Tribal chairman came four months after he was elected to the position.
Dunlap, of Humboldt County, was charged with the “sacrifice murder” of his 3-month-old daughter Brittaney at his half-brother’s San Mateo home on Sept. 9, 1988.
Dunlap declined an immediate interview Tuesday and multiple attempts to contact the Yurok Tribal Council for comment were not returned, though its Vice Chairman David L. Gensaw Sr. issued the following statement:
“There is no doubt about it, this is sad and frustrating day for the Yurok people, but we have prevailed over bigger challenges in our past and we will overcome this, too,” Gensaw said. “Every day, the Tribe’s 300-plus employees work hard to improve the economic, social and cultural conditions on the Yurok Reservation and in the surrounding areas. Their good work should not be overshadowed by this situation.”
San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Karen Guidotti said her office’s database show a James Everett Dunlap being charged with murder in 1988.
San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe said a jury found Dunlap guilty of second-degree murder in 1990, but he was then declared not guilty by reason of insanity and admitted to a state mental health hospital.
Wagstaffe said he was the prosecutor in the case and has a vague memory of what occurred. He recalled wanting to fight the not guilty by reason of insanity ruling, but that every state and county doctor who examined Dunlap found him to be insane at the time.
“I never heard of him again,” Wagstaffe said.
Wagstaffe said he also recalled there was no motive for the killing and described the 1988 incident as “bizarre.”
At the time, witnesses said Dunlap stabbed his daughter with a buck knife in her crib. He was reportedly found by San Mateo police “lifting the girl over his head and yelling out that he had sacrificed her to God.”
In a November election, Dunlap defeated former tribal Chairman Thomas O’Rourke with about 60 percent of the vote.
Dunlap’s resignation allows the Yurok Tribal Council to appoint the runner-up, but only if that person obtained 30 percent of the vote, according to the tribe.
Contact Will Houston at whouston@times-standard.com@times-standard.com.
