The February disciplinary cases, in which each deputy was suspended for two days, raised the number of deputies punished so far this year to three and the number of incidents to four. handcuffs generic
PINOLE — A San Leandro man was arrested her on suspicion of human trafficking and pimping at a hotel here last week, just one month after a judge dismissed murder and attempted murder charges against him in Oakland, court records show.
Deyonne White, 33, beat his case at a preliminary hearing on June 27, when a judge dismissed one murder charge and four counts of attempted murder, court records show. Almost exactly one month later, on July 28, White was arrested at a Motel 6 on Fitzgerald Drive in Pinole, where Hercules police said in a report White drove up “with juvenile females to drop them off to perform sexual acts.”
White has not been charged in relation to the July 28 arrest, but Hercules police say they intend to present a case to the Contra Costa District Attorney’s office. In the meantime, White is being held in the West County Detention Facility on suspicion of violating his parole, allowing authorities to keep him in custody without underlying charges for longer than the 72-hour limit imposed on arrestees who aren’t on parole or probation.
The murder case dismissal underscores just how difficult the prosecution over a Jan. 21, 2021 shootout has become. Out of 14 suspects, White and one other man were the only two to be charged. Both cases failed at the preliminary hearing stage, where prosecutors failed to convince two different judges that there was probable cause either defendant was guilty of murder or attempted murder, court records show.
On June 13, 2022, Alameda County prosecutors charged White in connection with the massive 2021 shootout, which killed a man named John Avalos and wounded several others, including White. In fact, White was identified as a potential suspect only after showing up to a nearby hospital with a gunshot wound.
Avalos was killed by a stray bullet while dropping off food for a friend who’d become ill with COVID-19, when members of two Oakland-based gangs began shooting at each other near 107th Avenue and Apricot Street, authorities said at the time. Prosecutors accused White of being in a group of gang members who arrived in the area looking to kill a rival.
During an interview, White said he could recall being shot but nothing else, according to Oakland police, who described him in court papers as “uncooperative” with the investigation.
Among the attempted murder victims was Ramon Price Jr., an Oakland rapper who went by Lil Monnie23 and was gunned down a year later in a shooting on Interstate 580.
Three months before White was arrested, prosecutors charged a man named Billy Deon Williams with murder and attempted murder. In October 2022, a judge threw out the case, after Williams’ attorney argued his client was a victim, not a perpetrator, and that key prosecution witnesses had been totally discredited by their own lies.
Further complicating the case, Oakland police Det. Phong Tran — who has since been charged with perjury and bribery for allegedly paying off a witness for testimony in another murder case — was one of the investigators, and collected White’s clothing from the hospital as evidence, White’s attorney, David Cohen, wrote in a legal motion. Cohen didn’t return a call seeking comment.
Originally published at Nate Gartrell