Parents' Criminal Behavior Helped Shape Oakland Child Killer
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- The criminal records and frequent incarcerations of both of his parents were very significant factors in the development of a man who
potentially faces the death penalty for murdering victims in Oakland and Berkeley in 2013, a psychologist has testified.
Darnell Williams Jr., 25, suffered "a great deal of shame" because of his parents' backgrounds and was "teased" by his classmates because his father was in prison and belonged to the Black Guerilla Family prison gang, psychologist Gretchen White said in the penalty phase of Williams' trial.
Williams "absolutely idealized" his mother, Sheila Smith, and it was "devastating psychologically" for him that she frequently was absent, White said.
Williams on May 6 of two counts of first-degree murder for the shooting death of 8-year-old Alaysha Carradine at an apartment in the 3400 block of Wilson Avenue in Oakland at about 11:15 p.m. on July 17, 2013, and the unrelated fatal shooting of 22-year-old Anthony Medearis in Berkeley about seven weeks later.
He also was convicted of three counts of premeditated attempted murder and the special circumstance of lying in wait for the Oakland shooting, the special circumstance of murdering Medearis during the course of an attempted robbery and the special circumstance of committing multiple murders.
In the penalty phase of his trial, which will probably conclude next week, the same jury will choose between recommending the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In making their decision, jurors can take into account the facts of the crimes, the suffering of the victims, the impacts the murders had on their survivors and Williams' difficult childhood.
Prosecutor John Brouhard said in the guilt phase of Williams' trial that Williams fired at least 13 shots into the apartment on Wilson Avenue in retaliation for the fatal shooting of a close friend in Berkeley about five hours earlier.
Brouhard said Williams wanted to harm anyone who was close to the man he thought had murdered Davis, and went to the apartment because the man's ex-girlfriend, who was the mother of the man's 7-year-old girl and 4-year-old boy, lived there.
The mother wasn't home when Williams arrived at the apartment but the two children were there along with their 63-year-old grandmother and Alaysha, who was a close friend of the 7-year-old girl and was spending the night there.
The 7-year-old girl, the 4-year-old boy and their grandmother were also struck by gunfire but survived their injuries.
Brouhard said Williams fatally shot Medearis on Sept. 8, 2013, because he thought he was a snitch and also because he wanted to rob him because he had run out of money to buy guns, drugs and jewelry.
Brouhard told jurors at the beginning of Williams' penalty phase last week that he should get the death penalty because he has a history of committing violent acts.
But Williams' lead attorney, Deborah Levy, said they should spare his life because he had a difficult childhood since his parents were frequently in jail or prison.
White said Smith, Williams' mother, promised him when he was young that she would always be there for him but "she really wasn't there for him because she was in jail or prison or living elsewhere because she was on parole."
Smith, who said she was convicted of a series of fraud-related charges, filing false financial statements and being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm, testified that Williams "was a momma's boy" and told people when he was 19 that, "I'm not going to get married because I'm already married to my mom."
White said it's not unusual for young children to talk about being married to one of their parents but it's very unusual for a 19-year-old to talk that way.
Testimony in the penalty phase was expected to conclude on Wednesday. Closing arguments haven't yet been scheduled.
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