Oakland’s woke up new DA outraged judge by offering triple murder plea deal

A notorious Oakland gang member accused of fatally shooting three people, including a possible witness to another shooting, when he was 18 years old has been offered a shocking plea deal that reduces his original sentence from 75 to life in prison to only 15 years.

Under the plea agreement, offered by Wake Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, Delonzo Logwood, 31, will plead no contest to manslaughter and personal use of a weapon.

Logwood was charged with murdering Eric Ford, 22, Zaire Washington, 24, and Richard Carter, 30, in separate shootings in Oakland in 2008. Charges for two of the murders were allegedly dropped as part of the plea guilt, he reported. local news matters.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Mark McCannon told the San Francisco Chronicle that given the unusual nature of the terms and the drastically reduced sentence, he needed more time to consider whether to sign.

in a statement Posted by Price, the progressive district attorney wrote that Logwood’s case is a “difficult case by any measure.”

“Given the state of the evidence and the age of the cases, our office concluded that it was in the interest of justice to resolve Logwood’s prosecution with a multiple-crime plea in connection with the murder of Eric Ford,” he wrote.

Logwood has been incarcerated since 2009 and will “serve additional years under the plea deal” from Santa Rita jail, where he has been since 2015.

It is not clear if this would mean that the convicted murderer would serve an additional 15 years or be released within the year given that he had already served 14 years.

“Contrary to the court’s critical comments, Logwood has expressed extreme remorse for his behavior as a teenager and immediately agreed to publicly apologize to the families affected by his behavior and to the residents of Alameda County,” the statement continued.

McCannon said he would tentatively approve Logwood’s proposed plea deal, but made it clear he needed more convincing before his final order.

‘I haven’t seen any remorse. I’ve never seen a case like this before,” said McCannon, a former prosecutor who was appointed as a judge in 2013.

“I know he was young at the time, but I will have to hear that he has matured and changed his ways.”

Price went on to say that the mission is to “stop the violence” in the community, adding that “the killing must stop.”

The controversial plea was met with criticism from the families of the victims, who told Local News Matters that Price “isn’t listening to them” and is “too soft on crime.”

Logwood was allegedly part of the Ghost Town gang, a subset of the P-Team gang, according to acting Oakland Police Captain Tony Jones’ testimony in 2018.

Logwood was charged along with Dijon Holifield, 30, with five homicides between them over the course of 45 days in 2008.

Holifield, who was 17 at the time, was arraigned in juvenile court, records show.

It has been claimed that the crimes were committed to further the interests of Ghost Town.

Prosecutors also linked the couple to several other violent crimes, including the non-fatal shooting of a potential witness and a series of armed carjackings, the court reported. Mercury News.

Washington was shot to death on June 30, 2008. Three weeks from the day of his death, he was scheduled to testify against Logwood’s half-brother in an unrelated shooting case.

Ford died the next day while in a car at a service station. Police called it a “murder-for-hire” case in which Logwood and Holifield accepted money and alleged that Logwood shot Ford while Holifield was lying in wait.

Carter was shot and killed on July 31, 2008 during an attempted carjacking.

Price, who brokered the deal, was picked after promising to give younger defenders a break.

She is aligned with a national movement of progressives trying to reduce mass incarceration and push for reform at the county level by seeking top prosecutorial jobs.

Price also said he would resent people facing life without parole and would prosecute police misconduct.

One of his first actions after taking office was to reopen investigations into eight police shootings and deaths in custody, including two cases dating back more than a decade.

Price defeated her moderate opponent to become Alameda County’s first black district attorney in 2022.

But one county over, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins was elected after a wave of voter discontent over the way things had gone under her progressive predecessor, Chesa Boudin.

Voters ousted Boudin, arguing that his progressive reforms were too lenient and made the city less safe.

Boudin was elected after promising to hold police officers accountable for wrongdoing, combat prison overcrowding and create policies for a more racially just criminal justice system.

But the political winds began to change about a year into his term, as pandemic-induced anxieties about a perceived rise in crime began to take hold.

Although reported crime overall declined during his tenure, an increase in crimes such as home burglaries and a series of shocking crimes committed by people who had already been arrested on Boudin’s watch fueled a sense of lawlessness in the city.

Critics also alleged the mismanagement of his office and singled out the many employees who resigned under his tenure.

The final split for the recall vote was 55-45 in favor of Jenkins.