OAKLAND, CA – MAY13: The Alameda County Superior Courthouse is seen from this drone view in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, May 13, 2021. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
OAKLAND — An Antioch woman who was 18 when she shot and killed her allegedly abusive boyfriend during a heated argument in their car has been sentenced to time in jail she has already served, clearing the way for her release from jail, court records show.
Lalique Westbrook, 22, pleaded no contest to assault with a firearm in May, and last month was formally sentenced to time in jail she already served, court records show. In exchange for her no contest plea, the Alameda County District Attorney’s office dismissed murder charges against Westbrook, who has been in custody since March 26, 2019, the day she shot and killed Taiwan Lamar Moore, 24, of Oakland.
During the interim period she was released from jail after signing a waiver promising to obey all laws, court records show.
The case drew wildly different theories from prosecutors and the defense, with a the defense arguing that Westbrook lawfully shot her abuser in self-defense, and a Deputy District Attorney casting doubt on that story’s validity. A judge in Westbrook’s 2021 preliminary hearing said it was possible a jury would balk at convicting Westbrook of murder but held her to answer on a murder charge anyway.
During Westbrook’s October 2021 preliminary hearing, her attorney argued that Westbrook had killed Moore in self-defense, describing him as a serial abuser who began dating Westbrook when she was 17, after picking her up from a shelter for abuse victims, and that he’d assaulted and threatened her numerous times. The attorney, Deputy Public Defender Francesca Serrano, said Westbrook had been “held hostage” in the vehicle where the two were arguing, and forced to urinate in a bowl.
“She was in a car that she was told if she was to leave, her family and herself would be killed,” Serrano said in court. “There was still confrontation with him cursing at her, and the weapon was in equal distance between Ms. Westbrook and Mr. Moore. She feared for her life and in that moment, decided not to die.”
The argument was over cookies, Serrano said, adding that Westbrook asked several times during her police interrogation if Moore was alright.
Deputy District Attorney Jason Sjoberg, though, argued that physical evidence showed Westbrook shot Moore in the back, then shot him a second time as he was attempting to flee. He said that bruises found on Westbrook were more than a day old.
“She takes the phone and the gun, and she flees the scene, and she goes to the hospital and makes herself a victim,” Sjoberg argued at the preliminary hearing.
At the same hearing, the defense made the relatively rare move of calling a witness: one of Moore’s ex-romantic partner, who testified he became “obsessive” after a brief “sexual” relationship.
“He became highly obsessive, and I told him I didn’t want to talk to him anymore. So he would try to find me, riding around the neighborhood where he dropped me off,” the woman testified.
“After you ended the relationship, how did he react?” Serrano asked the woman.
“He told me he would shoot me in the face,” she said.
Originally published at Nate Gartrell