Oakland Man Guilty Of Murder In Botched Marijuana Robbery
OAKLAND (CBS SF) - An Oakland man has been convicted of first-degree murder for fatally shooting a man during a botched attempt to steal marijuana from the victim.
An Alameda County Superior Court jury deliberated for less than a full day before delivering its verdict on Thursday afternoon against Tyrrell Hill, 32, for the death of 28-year-old construction worker Kenny Holowatch.
Holowatch was shot in front of his home at 1103 Chester St. in West Oakland at about 1:35 p.m. on June 12, 2009.
In addition to murder, jurors convicted Hill of two special circumstances: murder during an attempted robbery and murder during a burglary.
He will face life in state prison without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced by Judge Joseph Hurley on April 20.
Prosecutor Mark Jackson said Hill and three other suspects came to the house where Holowatch and his girlfriend were living after learning that Holowatch was growing marijuana that he planned to sell to medical marijuana dispensaries.
Holowatch's home was burglarized several weeks before the fatal shooting and the people who committed the burglary apparently told Hill and his associates that there was a large quantity of marijuana inside, Jackson said.
Hill and his associates tried to break into Holowatch's home and steal the marijuana but Holowatch and his girlfriend ran out of the house and then got into a confrontation with the suspects outside, according to Jackson.
The prosecutor said Hill shot Holowatch and then a second suspect also shot Holowatch, who died shortly after the shooting.
Jackson said it's not clear who the second shooter was, but he thinks it might have been 20-year-old Albert Tisdale, who will be prosecuted separately on a murder charge later this year.
The other two suspects haven't been identified or arrested, he said.
All four suspects were armed with guns, according to Jackson.
He said that although Holowatch had made "a poor decision to grow marijuana" at his home, he wasn't armed and had no criminal history.
According to Holowatch's mother, Lisa David, Holowatch had previously lived in North Carolina and had only been in Oakland for two months when he was fatally shot.
David said Holowatch had moved to Oakland to be closer to her after her husband, who was Holowatch's father, died of cancer.
Hill's attorney, Thomas Broome, couldn't be reached for comment on the jury's verdict.
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