OAKLAND — The trial has started over a 2019 Oakland shooting that resulted in one man being killed after trying to stop the violence, one man being shot in the foot, and two murder suspects going on divergent paths.
Brenton Boatwright, 26, is facing charges that he murdered his friend, 24-year-old Kaylen Tate, during a shootout in a neighborhood on 66th Avenue. But the main prosecution witness is a former co-defendant in the case, who accepted a plea deal to testify in exchange for a possible drastic sentence reduction.
It all centers around an incident that started around 10 a.m. on July 22, 2019, when Boatwright — whose last name is also spelled “Stuartboatwright” in court records — got into a heated argument with Abdulsatar Muqbel, 35, outside of Chico’s Liquor on Havenscourt Boulevard in Oakland. Tate, who was with Boatwright, got in between the two men and they went their separate ways.
But just a few minutes later, Muqbel pulled up in a vehicle alongside Boatwright’s Chevy Caprice on the 2600 block of 66th Avenue. Heated words were exchanged, and Boatwright got out of his car, gun in hand. A security camera from a home across the street shows shots being fired, and Boatwright and Tate running in different directions.
Deputy district attorney Kevin Ikuma contends that Boatwright fired the shot that killed Tate, and that he was the first to introduce a weapon to the conflict. That’s in part based on Muqbel’s statements to authorities, alleging that Boatwright held a gun to his chest outside the liquor store and then began waving it around on 66th Avenue.
But Boatwright’s attorney, Daniel Horowitz, said Muqbel’s “multiple versions” of the story couldn’t be believed. He played jurors a recording of Muqbel telling police he followed Boatwright and Tate because he wanted to return a pistol Boatwright had previously given him, not to initiate a second conflict. Horowitz said video shows Muqbel firing the first shot that struck the roof of a nearby house, and that Boatwright fired while running away, but only struck himself in the foot.
The kill shot, according to Horowitz, was fired from the back of Muqbel’s car; a cloud of smoke seen emanating from the back of the vehicle proves it, he argues.
Muqbel was arrested two days after the killing, after fleeing to Van Nuys, and Boatwright was arrested and charged the following year. But just two weeks ago, Muqbel accepted a plea deal that hinges on his testimony; he accepted a conviction to second degree murder and a sentence of 15 years to life, but if he testifies truthfully he can be re-sentenced on a manslaughter charge, which carries three to 11 years under state law.
Horowitz called it a “get out of jail free card,” and said that Muqbel was facing 56 years to life when he accepted it.
“He’s going to lie to you over and over and over and walk away from a 15-to-life sentence,” he told jurors.
Both attorneys agreed that Tate was essentially a bystander to the conflict. Video shows him getting between Muqbel and Boatwright at the liquor store to prevent them from fighting; on 66th Avenue, he stayed in the car until shots were fired, at which point he ran up the street, away from both vehicles. Video shows him stumbling when he is struck by gunfire but continuing to run until he gets out of range of the camera.
Tate’s father is Chuck Lounge, a singer with the San Jose-based nine-piece cover band Tortilla Soup. The band held fundraisers for Tate’s memorial in the aftermath of the slaying.
Source: www.mercurynews.com