As part of plea deal negotiated last year, a Solano County Superior Court judge on Tuesday formally sentenced a 21-year-old Vallejo street gang member to 24 years and four months in state prison for two killings in Vallejo.
During the plea-deal hearing, Steven Tezel Sanderson told Pendergast that he would agree to two counts of voluntary manslaughter for the September 2017 shooting of DaMario Williams and the January 2018 killing of Coy Lacy Jr., 30, in Vallejo. Pendergast accepted the pleas and found Sanderson guilty.
With the sentencing, held in Department 11 in the Justice Center in Fairfield, Sanderson became one of four gang members who have been either convicted or pleaded to the fatal shootings of three men in 2017 and 2018.
With the voluntary-manslaughter pleas, which included two gun enhancements, Sanderson, who was represented by criminal defense attorney John Coffer, became the third of five 200 Westwood gang members who have struck deals in recent months with Deputy District Attorney Eric Charm, who over the years has led the prosecution of the gang members, who take their gang affiliation from a Vallejo neighborhood.
As part of the deal, Pendergast dismissed two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of criminal street gang activity, for which Sanderson would almost certainly have faced a lengthier prison term if convicted at trial.
Sanderson’s plea came one day after fellow gang member Nickolas James Howland, 24, who, on Oct. 28, pleaded no contest to his involvement in the same two killings, and was sentenced to 18 years and four months in prison as part of a plea deal.
At press time Wednesday, Coffer, who is close to retiring after a long legal career, had not returned a Reporter request for additional information about the sentencing.
Gang member Damaria Tijaraye Haskins, 24, pleaded to one count of voluntary manslaughter on Nov. 5. He is scheduled for sentencing at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 14.
During the early November appearance, Haskins changed his not-guilty plea for the 2017 fatal shooting of Erik Green and the attempted murder of the victim’s brother, Eian, in Vallejo.
Haskins, who was indicted in November 2018 by a Solano County grand jury for the murder and the attempted murder, also pleaded to a gun enhancement and two counts of assault with a firearm. He will be sentenced to 10 years in state prison, court records show. He is represented by criminal defense attorney Carol Long.
A fourth gang member accused of shooting and killing Lacy is scheduled for further proceedings in his case.
Desean Lamar Johnson, 25, is scheduled to face a readiness conference and trial setting at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 25 in Department 11. Johnson is represented by criminal defense attorney Tim A. Pori.
Fifth gang member Tiquon Ramon Hicks Jr., 25, convicted in January 2020, was sentenced on March 5, 2020, to more than 27 years in state prison for the second-degree murder of Williams and other charges. He was represented by criminal defense attorney D. Glenn Brown.
Source: www.mercurynews.com