A notorious Oakland gang member accused of gunning down three people, including a potential witness to another shooting, when he was 18 years old has been offered a shocking plea deal reducing his original 75-to-life sentence to just 15 years.
Under the plea deal, offered by woke Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, Delonzo Logwood, 31, will plead no-contest to voluntary manslaughter and personal use of a gun.
Logwood was charged with murdering Eric Ford, 22, Zaire Washington, 24, and Richard Carter, 30, in separate Oakland shootings in 2008. The charges for two of the murders have allegedly been dropped as part of the plea, reported Local News Matters.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Mark McCannon told the San Francisco Chronicle that given the unusual nature of the terms and drastically reduced sentence he needed more time to consider whether he would sign off.
A notorious Oakland gang member accused of gunning down three people has been offered a shocking plea deal by Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price
In a statement released by Price the progressive district attorney wrote that the Logwood case is a 'difficult case by any measure.'
'Given the state of the evidence and the age of the cases, our office concluded it was in the interest of justice to resolve the prosecution of Logwood with a plea to multiple crimes in connection with the murder of Eric Ford,' she wrote.
Logwood has been incarcerated since 2009 and 'will serve additional years under the plea deal' from Santa Rita jail where he's been since 2015.
It remains unclear whether this would mean that the convicted killer would serve an additional 15 years or be released within the year given he'd already served 14 years.
'Contrary to critical comment from the bench, Logwood has expressed extreme remorse for his behavior as a teenager and readily agreed to publicly apologize to the families impacted by his demeanor and to the residents of Alameda County,' the statement continued.
McCannon said he would tentatively approve the proposed plea deal for Logwood but made it clear he needed more convincing before his final order.
'I haven't seen any remorse. I've never seen a case pled down like this before,' said McCannon, a former prosecutor who was appointed to the bench in 2013.
'I know he was young at the time, but I'm going to have to hear that he's matured and that he has changed his ways.'
Price went on to say that the mission is to 'stop violence' in the community adding that the 'killing must stop.'
Logwood was charged with murdering Eric Ford, 22, Zaire Washington, 24, (pictured) and Richard Carter, 30, in separate Oakland shootings in 2008. The charges for two of the murders have allegedly been dropped as part of the plea
It remains unclear whether this would mean that Logwood would serve an additional 15 years or be released within the year given he'd already served 14 years
The controversial plea was met with criticism from the victims' families who told Local News Matters that Price is 'not listening' to them and is 'too soft on crime.'
Logwood was allegedly part of the Ghost Town gang, a subset of the P-Team gang, according to testimony by Oakland police Acting Capt. Tony Jones in 2018.
Logwood was charged alongside 30-year-old Dijon Holifield with five homicides between them over the course of 45 days in 2008.
Holifield, who was 17 at the time, was prosecuted in juvenile court, records show.
It's been claimed that the crimes were committed to further the interests of Ghost Town.
Prosecutors also connected the pair to several other violent crimes, including the nonfatal shooting of a potential witness and a series of armed carjackings, reported the Mercury News.
Washington was shot dead June 30, 2008. Three weeks after the day of his death, he'd been scheduled to testify against Logwood's half-brother in an unrelated shooting case.
Ford was killed the next day while in a car at a gas station. Police called it a 'murder-for-hire' case in which Logwood and Holifield both accepted money for and alleged that Logwood shot Ford while Holifield was on lookout.
Carter was shot and killed July 31, 2008, during an attempted carjacking.
Price, who negotiated the deal, was elected after promising to give younger defenders a break.
Price, who negotiated the deal, was elected after promising to give younger defenders a break
One county over however, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins was elected after a wave of voter discontent over the way things had been going under her progressive predecessor, Chesa Boudin (pictured)
She is aligned with a national movement of progressives attempting to reduce mass incarceration and push for reforms at the county level by seeking top prosecutor seats.
Price also said she would resentence people facing life without parole, and to prosecute police misconduct.
One of her first actions, after taking office, was to reopen investigations for eight police shootings and in-custody deaths, including two cases more than a decade old.
Price defeated her moderate opponent to become Alameda County's first Black district attorney in 2022.
One county over however, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins was elected after a wave of voter discontent over the way things had been going under her progressive predecessor, Chesa Boudin.
Voters removed Boudin arguing that his progressive reforms were too lenient and made the city less safe.
Boudin was elected after promising to hold police officers accountable for wrongdoing, combat prison overcrowding and create policies for a more racially just criminal justice system.
But the political winds began shifting about a year into his term, as pandemic-induced anxieties over a perceived rise in crime began to take hold.
Though overall reported crime fell during his tenure, a spike in offenses like home burglaries and a series of shocking crimes committed by people already arrested on Boudin's watch fueled a sense of lawlessness in the city.
Critics also alleged mismanagement of his office and pointed to the many staffers who quit under his tenure.
The final split for the recall vote was 55-45 in favor of Jenkins.
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