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From: B-Haile (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Tue Jan 04 2011 - 06:45:53 EST
Oakland Triple-Murder From 2006 Moves Closer To Trial
Posted: 12:11 am PST January 4, 2011
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Mired in years of delays, the case of two brothers charged with murdering three relatives at a home in Oakland on Thanksgiving Day 2006 moved closer to trial recently when it was assigned to a new judge.
Prosecutor Joni Leventis said she now hopes that opening statements and testimony in the case of 47-year-old Asmerom Gebreselassie and 43-year-old Tewodros Gebreselassie will begin late this month if all goes well.
However, nothing is guaranteed in the complicated case because it has been marred by years of legal maneuvering and unexpected twists. The latest development is that Asmerom Gebreselassie, who has fired some of the most prominent defense lawyers in Alameda County, is now representing himself.
The people who were killed in the shooting at the Keller Plaza apartment complex at 5301 Telegraph Ave. in Oakland at about 3 p.m. on Nov. 23, 2006, were Winta Mehari, the Gebreselassies' 28-year-old sister-in-law, her brother, Yonas Mehari, 17, and their mother, 50-year-old Regbe Bahrengasi.
Asmerom is accused of being the shooter and Tewodros the accomplice, according to Leventis. Each is charged with three counts of murder and two special-circumstance murder clauses: committing multiple murders and committing murder during the course of a kidnapping.
They also face one count of attempted murder for the nonfatal shooting of Yehtram Mehari, the brother or Winta and Yonas. Additionally, each is charged with one count of kidnapping for allegedly taking Winta Mehari's 2-year-old son from the scene, and two counts of false imprisonment.
The brothers could face life in prison without parole, but not the death penalty, if convicted.
At the brothers' preliminary hearing, which lasted for 28 days spread over six months in 2008, Assistant Public Defender Ray Plumhoff said Asmerom acted in self-defense and opened fire only after two male members of the Mehari family met him with an angry outburst and pulled out guns.
Robert Beles, who represented Tewodros at that time, said Tewodros had no idea that Asmerom was coming to the apartment and was armed with a gun.
But John Jay, the prosecutor at the preliminary hearing, alleged that Asmerom and Tewodros were motivated by revenge and wanted to "massacre" Winta Mehari and her entire family because they believed she was responsible for the death of 42-year-old Abraham Tewolde, her husband and their older brother, at the couple's home in Berkeley on March 1, 2006.
Abraham Tewolde's death was investigated by Berkeley police but his cause of death was undetermined.
Jay also alleged that the brothers wanted to kidnap Abraham's 2-year-old son so they could raise him and also collect on a $500,000 life insurance policy that Abraham had taken out before he died, as the boy is a beneficiary.
The brothers and the victims in the case are all from Eritrea and the case has split Oakland's Eritrean community, with supporters of the brothers and of the victims packing the courtroom during many of the hearings in the case and sitting on opposite sides of the courtroom.
Most of the witnesses in the case speak Amharic and require translators when they testify, a factor that slowed down the preliminary hearing and is expected to slow down the trial.
Asmerom Gebreselassie fired Plumhoff and co-counsel Marvin Lew after the preliminary hearing but then later rehired them only to fire them a second time.
Asmerom was represented at one point by William DuBois, who represented computer programmer Hans Reiser in the case in which he was ultimately convicted of murdering his estranged wife Nina Reiser, but he fired DuBois, as well.
More recently, Asmerom fired Darryl Stallworth, a former Alameda County deputy district attorney who prosecuted a number of high-profile murder cases and is now a defense lawyer.
Leventis said Alameda County Superior Court Judge Larry Goodman didn't want the case to be delayed any longer but he had little choice but to allow Asmerom to fire Stallworth because the right for a defendant to represent himself is a well-established legal principle.
Stallworth is still involved in the case as a legal adviser for Asmerom.
The trial was assigned to Goodman last May, but a flurry of hearings on a host of legal issues prevented it from starting.
Among the issues were Asmerom's representation, a defense motion to have him declared incompetent to stand trial, which eventually was denied, and Tewodros' motion to be prosecuted separately from Asmerom, which also was denied.
Goodman recently removed himself from the case because Tewodros, who is represented by veteran San Francisco attorney Tony Serra, has invoked his right to have a speedy trial without interruption and Goodman had a vacation scheduled.
At a recent hearing, Judge Morris Jacobson assigned the trial to Judge Vernon Nakahara. Hearings on pretrial issues are scheduled today and Jan. 10.
Asmerom asked for another three-month delay in the hearing, saying there is newly discovered evidence. He said his defense is that he acted in self-defense.
But Jacobson declined to grant the delay, citing "the age of the case" and telling Asmerom there is "ample time" for him to be ready before the hearings.
At one point Asmerom turned toward relatives of Winta Mehari who were in the courtroom and said, "They killed my brother - they're murderers."
But Jacobson told Asmerom he suspected that Asmerom was saying that just to rile up Mehari's relatives.
"I think you've said that at least 50 times in the few years that I've known you," Jacobson said.
The judge said, "You always find a way to work that in."
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