An Alameda County judge approved a plea deal Thursday for an Oakland man accused in a deadly murder-for-hire plot, even as the judge refused to say whether he’d back prosecutors’ proposed sentence of 12 years in prison.
Superior Court Judge Mark McCannon appeared more amenable this week than he was earlier this year to the deal for Delonzo Logwood, 33, who has been in jail on numerous murder charges since 2015. It came just three months after the same judge torpedoed another offer from Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price over concerns that the county’s new top prosecutor was being to lenient for someone who — back then — faced murder charges in three separate killings.
Specifically, Logwood pleaded no contest to a single voluntary manslaughter charge, as well as a firearm-related sentencing enhancement. Logwood also acknowledged being on probation at the time of his arrest.
McCannon, who recently survived a bid by Price that sought to remove him from the case, said prosecutors’ willingness to detail their reasoning for offering the deal was a key factor in him granting approval. It all stood in stark contrast to just three months ago, when McCannon lampooned prosecutors for a different proposed plea deal that left him openly questioning prosecutors’ decision-making.
“I’m not going to reject the deal, because you have stated the reasons for it,” McCannon said during Thursday’s hearing. He added that “this time is different — you’ve actually given me something.”
Even so, McCannon said he was reserving judgment on Logwood’s proposed prison term of 12 years — 11 years for the manslaughter charge, and an extra year for the sentencing enhancement. He said he’d only make a decision on whether to approve it after receiving an upcoming probation report.
McCannon is expected to announce his decision at a sentencing hearing on July 13.
Wearing a yellow jail-issued outfit and a mask, Logwood spoke little during the hearing, except to answer McCannon when formally entering his plea. Logwood’s only other statement came as he was leaving the courtroom, when he told the judge: “Have a nice day, Your Honor.”
After the hearing, Logwood’s attorney, David Briggs, expressed optimism about the deal, saying “we think the judge will approve it — it’s a fair resolution for both sides.”
A call from this newspaper to Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price’s office was not immediately returned.
The deal comes just weeks after Price unexpectedly dropped two other murder charges against Logwood, whom prosecutors had long blamed for three killings in Oakland during a violent of gang violence in 2008.
It also marks the latest twist in a case full of them, while simultaneously offering an early window into Price’s priorities as she seeks to reshape the East Bay’s criminal justice system. A longtime civil rights attorney, Price has vowed to reduce prison sentences and re-evaluate cases involving suspects ages 25 and younger. Her stated goal: Reverse the nation’s legacy of mass incarceration, due to its impact on communities of color.
When Price took over the case, Logwood had been jailed since 2015 on charges of murdering three men in summer 2008: Eric Ford, 22; Zaire Washington, 24; and Richard Carter, 30. Prosecutors alleged the killings were meant to further the interests of a West Oakland-based gang known as Ghost Town, along with its subset, the P-Team.
One of the men, Washington, was scheduled to testify against Logwood’s half-brother in an unrelated shooting case when he was gunned down near his mother’s home in East Oakland.
The very next day, Ford was targeted in a murder-for-hire plot at a gas station on 35th Avenue and Quigley Street in Oakland. Carter died a few weeks later when an attempted carjacking ended in gunfire.
In February, Price’s administration offered a 15-year prison sentence to Logwood, who was 18 at the time of the killings. In exchange, she agreed to drop all three murder charges against him, in favor of a single voluntary manslaughter charge.
The proposal drew near-immediate opposition, with Judge McCannon voicing unease about a deal for someone who had shown little remorse for the killings. The judge specifically noted concerns about Logwood’s vow to “just (go) bad on everybody” after his release.
A month later, McCannon formally rejected the deal — openly asking: “What if he did it?”
Price responded by asking for another judge to take over the case — a request that was denied in late May.
The first proposed plea deal drew intense opposition from the family of Zaire Washington, whose mother alleged in a letter to the court that Logwood “will kill again” if released.
“There is emptiness inside me that haunts me every day for the rest of my life … (Washington) will never be able to live out his full potential,” the letter read. She asked McCannon during a March hearing for a strict prison sentence, adding that when she heard of the first proposed deal, “It felt like I was shot in the heart again.”
“I know that this man will kill again,” she wrote, later adding, “I fear for my life and everybody else’s.”
Price’s subsequent decision to drop the murder charge against Logwood regarding Washington’s death was “very devastating” for the slain man’s family, said Brenda Grisham, director of the Christopher LaVell Jones Foundation. “It’s like his life doesn’t matter,” she added.
It remains unclear whether Ford’s family supports or opposes the latest plea deal. Prosecutor Nick Homer told the judge that he has tried multiple times to reach the slain man’s family — all to no avail.
McCannon urged Homer to try harder, suggesting that the family’s sentiments could factor heavily in his decision on whether to agree to the proposed 12-year prison sentence, saying the prosecutor’s efforts so far were “not good enough.”
“You need to talk to this person about these new developments,” McCannon said. “That might make it easier or harder to come to a decision.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com