MARTINEZ — Ramello Randle’s days as an attorney reached their tumultuous end in a Contra Costa courtroom Wednesday.
The 27-year-old Oakland resident, representing himself as he faces charges of killing his ex-girlfriend amid a child custody dispute, was kicked off the case Wednesday morning. A mistrial was declared less than 24 hours after chaotic, profanity-ridden pandemonium in which Randle wished death upon a prosecutor, referred to him by a homophobic slur, and told the judge, “Shut up. I’m not your b—-.”
Randle is accused of placing a tracking device on 24-year-old Jonaye Lahkel Bridges’ vehicle, following her to a 7-Eleven in Antioch, and opening fire on her and a male companion as they sat in a car outside the store. Bridges was killed and the man suffered non-fatal gunshot injuries. Contra Costa prosecutors say Randle’s internet searches, his fingerprints on the gun used, texts about the tracking device, and evidence he arranged an alibi for himself all demonstrate his guilt.
But Randle contends, as he put it in front of jurors Tuesday, that authorities are, “f—ing framing me” and that his co-defendant, Christopher Slaughter — who received 15 years in state prison in a plea deal — is the real killer. Unfortunately for Randle, he never got to make that argument in front of a jury.
The beginning of the trial’s end started Tuesday afternoon, when Judge Charles “Ben” Burch agreed to let Randle call a his own mother as a defense witness, even though Deputy District Attorney Kevin Bell wasn’t quite finished questioning a cellphone expert. Randle’s mother briefly testified that Randle was in Oakland with his family on the night of July 26, 2020, and stayed there until the following morning. Bridges was fatally shot a little after midnight on July 27, 2020. The mother’s testimony was an attempt to provide an alibi for her son.
But when Bell began to cross-examine Randle’s mother, the wheels started falling off. Randle objected to a line of questioning involving his mother’s recollection of that evening, accusing the prosecutor of “badgering my witness” and insisting it wasn’t proper to question her about things that another witness, Randle’s wife, could answer. Burch overruled all but one of the objections.
When Burch overruled an objection over Bell’s question about whether the family ate pizza or watched movies first, Randle told his mother, “Don’t answer s— this (expletive) has to say then,” using a homophobic slur to refer to Bell. As Bell continued his line of questioning, Randle started to yell.
“He’s trying to make it seem like you’re lying. You can’t tell me what the f— I was doing with my family,” Randle said, his voice rising.
At that point, Burch excused excused the jury 45 minutes before court was expected to close for the day, as Randle continued to talk. With some of the jurors still present, Randle, his mother and Burch began yelling over each other, while the courtroom transcriber struggled to get the overlapping statements down.
“Slaughter should be here, not me,” Randle said, referring to his co-defendant.
“I agree with that,” his mother said.
“You’re trying to give him immunity for killing my child’s mother,” Randle yelled. “Let all his friends f—-ing frame me.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, please disregard anything you’re hearing right now,” Burch said.
“Weird a–. I hope you drive home and crash and die,” Randle said to Bell, the prosecutor. “They’re trying to frame me for something I didn’t even do.”
“I understand that. We have proof of that, OK? Please calm down,” his mother said.
After the door closed behind the last juror, Burch told Randle he was skating on thin ice and that, “the next time there’s an outburst like the one you just did in front of this jury, there’s going to be a mistrial and it’s going to be your fault. You’re going to be disqualified from representing yourself.”
“You think you’ve got me over a barrel because we’re so far into this trial that you can say and do whatever you want? That’s not going to happen,” Burch added. “We’ve put up with enough of your antics in this courtroom. Now is the end of it.”
But Randle never got his final chance. After sleeping on it, Burch arrived in court Wednesday morning, declared a mistrial, excused the jury, and revoked Randle’s pro per status.
It is unclear who will be assigned to represent Randle for the next trial. If no local attorneys volunteer for the job, it is likely someone will be plucked from a list of court-appointed attorneys.
Source: www.mercurynews.com