Judge tosses 2 of 3 murder charges filed against reputed Oakland gang member
OAKLAND -- Once again, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price finds herself embroiled in controversy involving charges in an East Bay murder case.
On Wednesday, Judge Mark McCannon agreed with her office's motion to dismiss charges against 32-year-old Delonzo Logwood in the 2008 slayings of Richard Carter and Zaire Washington.
Logwood remains in custody charged with one count of murder of Eric Ford.
"We learned back in January that this witness was not guaranteed to testify," Price said in a statement Wednesday night. "Additionally, his testimony was very problematic in terms of contradicting objective facts and our ability to secure a conviction in any of the cases was extremely tenuous. We concluded that the previous administration had overcharged and mismanaged the case, and that's why we worked so hard in January and February to arrive at a negotiated settlement."
"The Court's rejection of that proposed plea agreement in March created an unexpected barrier to our efforts to resolve the case. Today, the judge has accepted our evaluation of the evidence in the case and dismissed the two murder charges to match the evidence in the case."
The case has been one of many twists and turns. Price called for McCannon to be disqualified from the case after he rejected a plea deal of 15 years for Logwood, who was 18 years old at the time of the killings. He faced 75 years to life if convicted of the original charges.
That motion was rejected Wednesday morning, before prosecutors brought forth the dismissal motion.
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Since Price was elected in November on a platform denouncing tough sentencing and reducing mass incarceration, several longtime prosecutors have left her office. She faces increasing scrutiny and backlash for doing away with most sentencing enhancements.
"We should not be incarcerating them. But we should be mentoring and raising our young people and supporting them and creating restorative justice opportunities for them," Price told the crowd at a rally in support of her in late April.
She has come under fire from both the parents of 26-year-old Blake Mohs, a Home Depot loss prevention employee, who was shot to death by a shoplifter in April and Jasper Wu's family.
In 2021, Wu was killed by stray gunfire in what has been described as a gun battle between rival gang members on Interstate 880 in Oakland.
