Defendant Leads Police To New Evidence In 8-Year-Old's Slaying
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- Murder defendant Darnell Williams may have led police to cellphone photos that may link him to the slaying of an 8-year-old Oakland girl, according to prosecutors in the case.
Williams, 25, of Oakland, is charged with two counts of murder for the fatal shootings of 8-year-old girl Alaysha Carradine in Oakland and 22-year-old Anthony Medearis in Berkeley in separate incidents in 2013 and could face the death penalty if he's convicted of all the charges against him, which include three special circumstance allegations.
At a hearing outside the presence of jurors Thursday, prosecutor John Brouhard said that at Williams' request police this week downloaded photographs that were stored in his cellphone when it was seized after he was arrested on Sept. 8, 2013, for the fatal shooting of Medearis in the 1400 block of Eighth Street in Berkeley at about 5:45 p.m. that day.
Williams also is accused in the fatal shooting of Alaysha in the 3400 block of Wilson Avenue in Oakland at about 11:15 p.m. on July 17, 2013.
Brouhard said the newly-downloaded photos contain three text messages that Williams sent in the early morning hours of July 19, 2013, with photo attachments of guns that "look the same" as the guns that were used in the shooting that claimed Alaysha's life and wounded three other people.
Brouhard said police had previously downloaded other text messages and photos that were on Williams' phone but new technology helped police download the additional texts and photos.
The prosecutor said he plans to introduce the new evidence when Williams' trial resumes next week.
Defense attorney Deborah Levy told Alameda County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Horner that she and co-counsel Darryl Billups had been "very concerned about having this done (downloading the additional items) because of the potential harm that may be done but Mr. Williams wanted to do this regardless."
Levy said, "Mr. Billups and I both thought that it was a stupid and bad idea."
Authorities have never found the guns that were used in the Oakland and Berkeley shootings but believe that other evidence, including witness statements, connects Williams to both incidents.
The shooting in Oakland that claimed Alaysha's life occurred about five hours after the fatal shooting of reputed gang member Jermaine Davis, 26, in the 1800 block of Derby Street in Berkeley at about 6:52 p.m. on July 17, 2013.
Brouhard told jurors in his opening statement two weeks ago that Williams had been a close friend of Davis and carried out the Oakland shooting in retaliation for Davis' death.
Brouhard said Williams believed Davis had been killed by Antiown York and he fired shots into the apartment on Wilson Street in Oakland because York's ex-girlfriend, the mother of York's children, lived there.
The mother wasn't home when Williams opened fire but Williams fired 13 shots that struck Alaysha, York's two young children and their grandmother, according to Brouhard.
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