Bay Citizen
On the first day of witness testimony for the defense, public defender Diana Garrido spent several hours focused on what may be the prosecution’s biggest weaknesses in its case against Joe Blacknell III: shaky witnesses and inconclusive scientific evidence. The prosecution’s star witness, a woman shot and wounded while driving with murder victim Marcus Russell, told a detective on the day of the shooting – and Russell’s friend days later – that she ducked when gunfire erupted and could not…
Beneath the surface of the San Francisco Bay, a small crew of divers works, largely unnoticed, salvaging shipwrecks and cleaning up oil spills. “If it can be done on the surface, our guys can do it underwater,” said Frank Immel, the marketing manager for Global Diving & Salvage, a marine contractor which specializes in underwater construction and diving services. Immel likes to say that his guys just wear different hard hats and different coveralls to work. His employees, underwater diving…
Analysis of shell casings suggests a link between four killings in Oakland and Richmond and many of the 22 felonies for which Joe Blacknell III is on trial, Richmond Police Det. Christopher Llamas testified Thursday. The revelation came after weeks of testimony in the closely-watched case. Blacknell, now 21, is charged with shooting and killing Marcus Russell on March 10, 2009 and wounding four people on September 13 that same year. Blacknell also faces more than a dozen other charges,…
It may take a lot of baby steps before public transit technology can take a huge leap forward. CyberTran International, the Richmond-based “ultra-light rail” start-up that secured a public-private partnership with the city back in September, landed its second public-private partnership this week. I-Gate, a state sponsponed business incubator, invited the “ultra-light rail” company to join their network of green transportation and clean-energy technologies. Together larger facilities like Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and UC Berkeley can provide “young entrepreneurial green…
Police are continuing to investigate extensive vandalism inflicted on Nystrom Elementary this weekend. Vandals splattered paint throughout the building, smashed windows, destroyed electronics and soaked the floors in Nystrom’s recently renovated, multi-million dollar auditorium. The auditorium contains a gym, library, classrooms, computer lab and a kitchen. Costs of repairing the damage could exceed $500,000, according to media reports. Richmond Police Dept. Capt. Mark Gagan said detectives are investigating the incident, but have not found any suspects or conclusive motives. This…
Throughout most of 2009, neighborhood cliques of mostly teens and young adults were locked in a back-and-forth feud, intensified by ambitions for respect and reprisal. Mixed with the hot tempers and youthful indiscretions, social networking sites had become bulletin boards for taunts, and a burgeoning hop-hop video scene on YouTube bristled with boasts and threats. Add to that, the kids had military-grade weapons. “Assault weapons, pistols, [high-capacity] magazines, laser sightings,” said Detective Christopher Llamas. “In 2009, we had 350-plus shootings”…
When he took the helm in early 2006, Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus looked to impose his geographically centered policing strategy in a department accustomed to mobile crime suppression teams and cleaved with persistent racial division. “Unfortunately our department is greatly segregated,” then-Captain Ed Medina wrote in a memo reviewed by Magnus in 2006. “We are still separated by race (minority officers associations, etc.) which continually drives wedges between groups.” Magnus’s third day of testimony in Contra Costa County Superior…
The burly detective turned up the intensity, sometimes yelling in a bass-heavy bellow, cursing frequently. His partner chipped in some grim facts—she reminded the 18-year-old suspect about the prospects of a lifetime behind bars. And it wasn’t just a tough-talk routine. The detectives feigned that they had evidence—DNA, surveillance and witnesses—solid as the iron bars at San Quentin. But none of it had an effect. Joe Blacknell III never wavered in insisting he was innocent. “I’m not worried about it…
This fall, Richmond residents will vote whether or not to place a penny-per-ounce tax on soft drinks. This past winter, the city council voted to put the measure on the November ballot, along with a proposal to use the funds the tax would raise to help pay for health programs. But the proposed soda tax has stirred debates in the city about health, poverty and race.