Murder verdict upheld in parking space slaying
A state appeals court on Wednesday upheld an Oakland man's murder conviction for fatally shooting a neighbor after an argument over a parking space at their apartment complex.
In a 2-1 ruling, the First District Court of Appeal rejected defense arguments that jurors should have been allowed to decide whether Jamie Thomas acted in the heat of passion when he killed Samuel Navarro, and that the jury may have been prejudiced by rap lyrics in which Thomas spoke of randomly shooting people with a semiautomatic.
Navarro, 33, was shot to death in January 2007 in a parking lot in a quiet neighborhood on Pearl Street, north of Lake Merritt. The court said he and his wife had complained to Thomas in the past after Thomas parked his car so that it blocked theirs.
They argued again on the evening of the shooting. Thomas testified that Navarro was part of a group of men who beat him. Thomas said he went to his car and got a rifle, and Navarro threatened him and lunged for the gun and that's when he fired it.
But Ignacio Ortiz, a friend of Navarro's, said he, not Navarro, beat up Thomas after Thomas confronted him, and that Navarro never struck or threatened Thomas.
An Alameda County jury rejected Thomas' claim that he had fired the shot in fear for his safety and convicted him of second-degree murder in 2010. He was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison.
Thomas' lawyer argued that jurors should have been allowed to decide whether he was blinded by anger from the argument when he shot Navarro, which could have led to a verdict of manslaughter rather than murder.
But Justice Peter Siggins, in the majority opinion, said enough time had passed for Thomas' emotions to cool, and there was little possibility that jurors would have returned a lesser verdict. He also said there was no indication that the jury had been inflamed by rap lyrics Thomas had written in 2006, which were properly introduced as evidence that he owned a semiautomatic rifle.
Justice Stuart Pollak dissented.
This article appeared on page C - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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