Oakland Woman Convicted Of Ordering Son, Friend To Murder Boyfriend
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- A 34-year-old woman was convicted of second-degree murder Friday for her role in the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old man in West Oakland four years ago.
Prosecutor Glenn Kim told jurors that Laquisha Allen ordered her son, Douglas Andrews, who was only 15 at the time, and 18-year-old Tommy Lacy III to shoot Marjon Fuller in the 1600 block of 11th Street in West Oakland at about 7:20 p.m. on July 6, 2012, because she thought Fuller was responsible for the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Jah-Kwan Smith in Stockton the previous week.
Kim said Allen and Smith had a sexual relationship and were a couple because she still has a tattoo of Smith's name on her neck. But he said Allen also had sexual relationships with Lacy and several other teenagers.
Kim said Allen, who lived in Stockton but had family and friends in West Oakland, rented a car and had Lacy and her son accompany her to West Oakland, where she drove at speeds of up to 85 miles per hour before they spotted Fuller outside a corner store.
He said Allen then ordered the teenagers, who were both armed with guns, to get out of the car and shoot Fuller.
Kim said Lacy and Andrews confronted Fuller but in an exchange of gunfire Lacy was shot and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Although Allen didn't get out of her rental car and didn't fire any shots, she's charged under the provocative act doctrine, which holds that a suspect can be charged with murder if she engages in reckless or dangerous conduct that provokes a victim to shoot in self-defense and kill someone else.
Allen's attorney, Ted Johnson, said in his closing argument earlier this week that Allen should be acquitted or only convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter because he thinks there is reasonable doubt since many questions in the case remain unanswered.
Johnson told jurors, "I don't know what happened out there and you don't know either."
Johnson described the evidence in the case as "tenuous" and said, "We don't know who shot Tommy and we don't know who the target was."
Fuller, who was 18 at the time, wasn't injured in the shooting but was killed in a separate drive-by shooting at the same corner two years later at 9 a.m. on April 16, 2014, when he was 20.
Kim said it's never been determined who fired the shot that killed Lacy but he said for the purpose of Allen's case that doesn't matter because he believes she bears legal responsibility for Lacy's death.
Andrews, Allen's son, pleaded guilty in juvenile court to charges stemming from Fuller's death and testified last week that Allen didn't have anything to do with the shooting.
Johnson said Friday he believes that Andrews and Lacy fired shots in self-defense after someone came out of a nearby bar and started shooting at them first.
Guarded by seven bailiffs and dressed in a white shirt and a black sweater, Allen looked straight ahead and showed little emotion when the jury's verdict was announced.
Johnson said he's "disappointed" with the verdict because he doesn't think prosecutors proved that she intended to have Fuller killed.
Johnson said Allen faces at least 16 years in state prison for her murder conviction plus an arming clause and her sentence could be increased by several more years if Alameda County Superior Court Judge Allen Hymer, who is presiding over her case, affirms at a hearing on Monday that she has felony convictions in previous cases.
Allen's sentencing date will be set at that hearing on Monday.
