OAKLAND — A man who was wounded in a 2022 shootout has been sentenced to six years in state prison for killing one of the other two men who fired a gun during the incident, court records show.
Eric Warrick, 39, was initially charged with murdering 35-year-old Joshua Barnes in an Aug. 6, 2022 shootout on the 1900 block of Broadway in downtown Oakland. On July 2, though, Warrick was formally sentenced to six years, with roughly two years credit for the time he served behind bars while the case was pending. Warrick pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter as part of the plea agreement, records show.
Warrick and a woman were injured during the shooting. Barnes was killed. At Warrick’s preliminary hearing, prosecutors argued that video surveillance clearly showed Warrick pulled a gun and fired first as Barnes and the woman ran away. Barnes fired back, and police said there was a third shooter who was never identified.
Warrick’s lawyer, Miki Tal, argued at the preliminary hearing that the evidence showed “some kind of intent by Mr. Warrick to deflect someone who is threatening to him.”
“(Barnes) is coming after him; it’s a heat of passion type response or imperfect self-defense,” Tal said at the hearing, arguing for the case to be reduced from manslaughter to murder. Police testimony also indicated that Barnes was intoxicated at the time of the incident, and that Warrick was standing with a group of people on the sidewalk when the confrontation arose.
Warrick was transferred to the state prison system on Aug. 21, records show.
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Source: www.mercurynews.com