Posts Tagged ‘diana garrido’
Blacknell sentenced to life without parole for 2009 crime spree
Joe “Fatter” Blacknell III was sentenced to life in prison plus more than 200 years without possibility of parole for the March 2009 murder of an up-and-coming East Bay rap artist and a September 2009 shooting and carjacking spree in Richmond and Oakland. Blacknell, now 21, was arrested after a brief foot pursuit with Richmond…
Read MoreProsecutor reflects on trial, conviction of Joe ‘Fatter’ Blacknell in Richmond gang case
As the jury’s deliberation dragged into a second week, the pressure mounted. Always unflappable in the courtroom, prosecuting attorney Derek Butts nevertheless found himself wracked with inner anxiety. “Those two weeks were brutal,” Butts said. For more than a month in the trial of Joe Blacknell III, Butts’ scratchy monotone had never wavered. Hostile witnesses…
Read MoreClosing arguments recount Richmond crime spree, differ on whether Blacknell responsible
After more than a month of proceedings, one of Richmond’s biggest murder trials in years is in the jury’s hands. Closing arguments Thursday painted two starkly different pictures of the evidence against Joe Blacknell III. The 21-year-old south Richmond native is accused of 22 felonies, including the March 2009 murder of rap artist Marcus Russell,…
Read MoreBlacknell’s mother takes stand in Richmond murder case
Joe Blacknell III’s mother took the stand in his defense Wednesday, testifying that her son is a hip-hop fan and father of three, and not a violent gang member who killed one man and wounded at least four others in 2009, as police and prosecutors allege. “You guys make him out to be this,” said…
Read MoreBlacknell defense opens case, focuses on science and inconsistent witnesses
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,…
Read MoreRichmond detective implicates Blacknell in murders for which he is not charged
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…
Read MoreDespite intense interrogation, Blacknell’s story consistent
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…
Read MoreAutopsy report: Russell died after being shot at least eight times
The trauma of at least eight gunshot wounds assured the death of 21-year-old Marcus Russell, a coroner’s examiner testified Tuesday. “It was the totality of all the gunshot wounds put together,” said Dr. Thomas Rogers, forensic pathologist for the Alameda County Coroner’s Office. “A large amount of internal bleeding caused shock” from which Russell never…
Read MoreRichmond murder victim’s mother testifies
On the night before his death, Marcus Russell’s nerves were uneasy, and a red minivan was lurking curbside a few blocks from his grandmother’s house, his mother testified Monday. But before Faith Russell could see who was driving the red minivan, which she said she saw several times in her neighborhood in the months leading…
Read MoreWitnesses recall red van tailing Marcus Russell in days before his murder
In the days before he was shot and killed while driving his grandmother’s Nissan Maxima on I-580, Marcus Russell was nervous about simmering neighborhood tensions and a red minivan that seemed to be following him around Richmond, Russell’s friends and family testified in Contra Costa County Court Thursday. “You know your children,” Faith Russell, Marcus’…
Read MoreWitness describes shooting, 2009 death of Marcus Russell
When the red van pulled alongside their driver’s side door, the long barrel of an assault rifle was jutting out the window – but it was quiet. “They waited for a second, for Marcus to look up,” said a young woman seated at the witness stand, wearing a checkered jacket and a pained scowl. “Did…
Read MoreFirearm expert links ammunition at various crime scenes in Blacknell case
The gun found near Joe Blacknell III during his September 2009 capture was almost certainly the same Smith & Wesson 9 mm that fired more than two dozen rounds at crime scenes in Oakland and Richmond, a firearms and ammunitions identification expert testified Monday. “It’s our conclusion that it is a practical impossibility that any…
Read MoreGunshot residue found on sweater of alleged Richmond shooter
The black-hooded sweatshirt Joe Blacknell III wore on the day he allegedly shot four people and missed two others had minute traces of gunshot residue on it, but not enough to definitively conclude that he fired a gun, a Los Angeles County criminalist testified Wednesday at Contra Costa Superior Court in Martinez. Blacknell is an…
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