Jake Combs murder retrial set for April 27 in Alderpoint killing case

Jake Henry Combs is set to return to Humboldt County Superior Court on April 27, after his first-degree murder conviction in the Alderpoint killing of Trevor John Earley was overturned on appeal. Attorneys told the court they were ready to move forward after months of delays, and the retrial is expected to last three to four weeks.

Combs, who was 31 when a Humboldt County jury convicted him on August 23, 2023, had been sentenced on October 6, 2023 to 50 years to life, made up of two consecutive 25-years-to-life terms. Judge Kaleb Cockrum initially misstated the punishment as 100 years to life, then corrected the record. The California First District Court of Appeal filed its reversal opinion on May 7, 2025, and agreed with Combs on one central issue: the trial court should not have allowed evidence that he attacked a wheelchair-bound inmate while awaiting trial. The appellate panel said there was a reasonable chance the result could have been different without that evidence. The California Attorney General’s Office asked for rehearing, but that request was denied.

The new trial will again test the state’s case in the January 6, 2022 killing of Earley, who was 25. In the earlier proceedings, prosecutors said Earley and Combs had been hanging out when Earley threatened Combs’ dog. Combs later pulled a loaded 9mm pistol from his backpack and shot Earley in the head. Combs told investigators he fired because Earley had threatened to kill his dog after the puppy bit him in the face, and the earlier trial also described a day and night of drinking before the shooting.

The case remains deeply felt in Alderpoint, where about 50 friends and family members of Earley filled the courtroom at an earlier arraignment, many of them openly weeping. A Humboldt County Board of Supervisors resolution later described Earley as a beloved son, brother, grandson, devoted friend and a member of a fourth-generation Native Alderpoint family.

Combs is being held in Humboldt County jail without bail after being transferred from Calipatria State Prison. He also faces a separate Humboldt County jail methamphetamine possession case, and he has pleaded not guilty in that matter. For Earley’s family, the retrial reopens a case already marked by a life sentence, an appeal and a reversal; for prosecutors, it is another chance to secure a verdict that can survive review.