OAKLAND — Prosecutors right here have thrown out the homicide case towards a neighborhood resident who’d been charged with killing his brother throughout a confrontation, courtroom data present.
Matthew John, 21, had been charged with fatally capturing 22-year-old Joshua Hopkins on Feb. 22, 2023, as the 2 argued on the 2200 block of Seminary Avenue. In September, prosecutors dropped the homicide case, however John isn’t utterly out of sizzling water — he pleaded no contest to robbing a Berkeley jewellery retailer with two others in a $98,000 takeover heist, and can serve three years in state jail, courtroom data present.
John’s two co-defendants within the theft, Jafar Neal and Derell Woods, additionally accepted plea offers for jail sentences of three and eight years, respectively, courtroom data present. Police say the three males focused the 14 Karats jewellery retailer on the 2900 block of School Avenue in Berkeley on Jan. 24, 2023, with one robber pointing a gun on the proprietor whereas others smashed jewellery circumstances.
At John’s preliminary listening to within the homicide case final Might, Hopkins’ important different testified that Hopkins left their residence, then got here again bleeding from a gunshot wound. An internet fundraiser over Hopkins’ demise says he was shot in entrance of his toddler son, however his girlfriend testified that wasn’t the case.
“(Hopkins) told me he needed to go to the hospital. He was shot, and he was bleeding,” she testified. She later added that she tried to get him to a physician, however, “he bled out in front of my apartment.”
On cross-examination, she testified that Hopkins had a number of psychological diseases, together with “ADHD, schizophrenia, (and) bipolar disorder,” however that he didn’t get bodily aggressive with folks.
John’s lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Desiree Woods, argued the out there proof pointed an image as Hopkins as “the aggressor.” She referred to the shooter as “the person” and “him,” not conceding that it was her shopper.
“(Hopkins) punched him. He broke the windshield. He threatened him with a rock. He pushed him into oncoming traffic. And every single time, the person walked away, except for once, where they turned and squared up and then turned around and walked away,” Woods stated.
Choose Jason Chin upheld the homicide cost towards John, however agreed “that there are points for the District Legal professional with this case.
“But identity and cause of death are not two of them,” Chin added.
