Politics & Government
Interesting Closing Arguments In Berkeley Shooting Trial
The same set of circumstances painted two different ways by prosecution and defense attorneys. How will jurors respond?
OAKLAND, CA —An Alameda County prosecutor told jurors on Monday that a man should be convicted of two counts of attempted murder for shooting his ex-girlfriend and a male friend as they sat in a car in Berkeley three years ago.
In his closing argument in the trial of Anthony Burton, 47, prosecutor Glenn Kim said he believes Burton shot his girlfriend and the other man as they sat in a car on Tremont Street, near the Ashby BART station, at about 1 a.m. on March 16, 2016, because "his manhood was threatened" since she was with a different man.
"Seeing her with a different man was threatening to him," Kim said.
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But Burton's lawyer, Richard Ortega, said Burton should be found not guilty of attempted murder because he fired shots in self-defense since he thought she was in danger when he found her in a car with a strange man after midnight.
Ortega said Burton "wanted to make sure she was not in danger" and had used a tracking device to find her.
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Ortega said Burton opened fire because the man his girlfriend was with had reached down to grab something in their car and Burton thought he was going for a gun.
The defense lawyer said Burton "reasonably believed that the immediate use of force was necessary" to defend against the possibility that the other man would harm Burton or his ex-girlfriend.
However, Kim said the other man and Burton's ex-girlfriend weren't armed.
Burton's ex-girlfriend and the other man both survived their injuries but she has endured long-term medical complications.
Burton was arrested on April 19, 2016, after an automated license plate reader tracked him to a Denny's restaurant parking lot near Sacramento and police found him sleeping in his car there.
In addition to two counts of attempted murder, Burton is charged with corporal injury to a relationship partner, assault with a semiautomatic weapon, shooting at an occupied motor vehicle and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Prosecutors said Burton wasn't supposed to own guns because he was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in Santa Clara County in 1992.
Jurors will begin deliberating Burton's fate on Tuesday morning.
— Bay City News
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