Final Moments Of 8-Year-Old's Life Brings Jurors To Tears
OAKLAND (CBS SF) – A prosecutor's verbal sketch of the final moments of little Alaysha Carradine's life brought tears to the eyes of several jurors Monday during closing arguments at the trial of the man accused of killing her.
A portrait of the 8-year-old was displayed at the front of the Oakland courtroom and then replaced by police video of the officers responding to a 911 call reporting the July 2013 shooting.
Alaysha told paramedics "a man shot her" and shortly after the 8-year-old died from a gunshot wound to the neck. On the audio, the chaos of the moment played out. Children cried, there were sobs and screaming on the tape.
As they listened, some of the jurors had tears in their eyes as did Carradine's family members
"Her life hadn't even started," Alaysha's great aunt Crewvonnia Jackson told KCBS. "So it's very difficult to relive it over and over. I'll just be glad when this is all done so I don't have to relive and hear her voice in that moment."
Meanwhile, defendant Darnell Williams sat stoically in court, showing little emotion to the recording.
Williams is facing two counts of capital murder and could be sentenced to death. He is accused of the shooting death of Carradine inside an Oakland home and also the murder of a 22-year-old man in Berkeley in an unrelated case.
Prosecutor John Brouhard alleges that Williams fired the shots that killed Carradine in the 3400 block of Wilson Avenue in Oakland at about 11:15 p.m. on July 17, 2013, because he was seeking revenge for the fatal shooting of his friend, reputed gang member Jermaine Davis, 26, in the 1800 block of Derby Street in Berkeley about four hours earlier.
Brouhard also alleges that Williams fatally shot 22-year-old Anthony Medearis in the 1400 block of Eighth Street in Berkeley about seven weeks later, at about 5:45 p.m. on Sept. 8, 2013, because he thought that Medearis had "snitched" about Williams' involvement in a previous robbery and because he wanted to rob Medearis, who he confronted at a dice game, since he was out of money.
Defense attorney Deborah Levy has told jurors in her opening statement that there's not enough evidence to convict Williams and alleged that two of the prosecution's key witnesses are prostitutes whose testimony isn't credible.
Brouhard said Williams believed Davis had been killed by Antiown York so he fired shots into the apartment on Wilson Street in Oakland because York's ex-girlfriend, the mother of York's children, lived there.
The mother wasn't home when Williams opened fire but Williams fired 13 shots that struck Alaysha, who didn't live there but was spending the night there because she was a friend of York's 7-year-old daughter.
The daughter, her 4-year-old brother and their 63-year-old grandmother also were injured by gunfire but survived.
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