{"id":833,"date":"2020-03-31T10:42:25","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T17:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=833"},"modified":"2020-03-31T10:45:12","modified_gmt":"2020-03-31T17:45:12","slug":"appeals-court-overturns-activists-murder-conviction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=833","title":{"rendered":"Appeals Court Overturns Activist&#8217;s Murder Conviction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In an unpublished <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courts.ca.gov\/opinions\/nonpub\/A154579.PDF\">ruling<\/a> released earlier this month, a divided panel of the California&#8217;s First District Court of Appeal overturned the murder conviction of DeAngelo Cortijo, a well known Bay Area\u00a0 criminal justice reform advocate.\u00a0\u00a0 The San Jose Mercury News <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/2020\/03\/22\/appeals-court-reverses-murder-conviction-for-well-known-east-bay-justice-advocate-deangelo-cortijo\/\">reports<\/a> that a jury found Cortijo guilty of the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Oakland resident Jamad Jerkins in 2016.\u00a0 At trial, Jerkins&#8217; girlfriend testified that he had told her about an earlier incident where Cortijo had pulled a gun on Jerkins.\u00a0\u00a0 The judge sustained the defense objection that the girlfriend&#8217;s statement was hearsay, and instructed the jury to ignore it, but he refused Cortijo&#8217;s request for a mistrial. \u00a0 Cortijo later testified that he had confronted Jerkins in an apartment parking lot, pointing a loaded gun at him,\u00a0 and claimed that when Jerkins tried to slap the gun away, it went off.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The prosecution presented grainy security camera video of the confrontation,\u00a0 which did not show the actual shooting.\u00a0 But the testimony of several eyewitnesses indicating that Cortijo had intentionally shot the victim, convinced the jury of his guilt.\u00a0 On Appeal Cortijo argued that the girlfriend&#8217;s testimony about the prior incident had so prejudiced the jury that he could no longer receive a fair trial and that a mistrial was required.\u00a0 The appellate court agreed, holding that the judge&#8217;s refusal to grant a mistrial was reversible error and overturned the conviction.\u00a0 In a dissenting opinion, Judge Carin Fujisaki noted that there was overwhelming evidence of Cortijo&#8217;s guilt, including his own testimony that he had a prior heated encounter with the victim.\u00a0 &#8220;There is no reasonable likelihood that but for hearing (Jerkin&#8217;s girlfriend&#8217;s) statement the jury would have been persuaded to reach a different verdict.&#8221;\u00a0 The court&#8217;s ruling can be appealed to the state Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an unpublished ruling released earlier this month, a divided panel of the California&#8217;s First District Court of Appeal overturned the murder conviction of DeAngelo Cortijo, a well known Bay Area\u00a0 criminal justice reform advocate.\u00a0\u00a0 The San Jose Mercury News reports that a jury found Cortijo guilty of the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Oakland resident Jamad Jerkins in 2016.\u00a0 At trial, Jerkins&#8217; girlfriend testified that he had told her about an earlier incident where Cortijo had pulled a gun on Jerkins.\u00a0\u00a0 The judge sustained the defense objection that the girlfriend&#8217;s statement was hearsay, and instructed the jury to ignore it, but he refused Cortijo&#8217;s request for a mistrial. \u00a0 Cortijo later testified that he had confronted Jerkins in an apartment parking lot, pointing a loaded gun at him,\u00a0 and claimed that when Jerkins tried to slap the gun away, it went off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-scan"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Appeals Court Overturns Activist&#039;s Murder Conviction - Crime &amp; 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