Prosecutor Says Two Teens Should be Convicted of Murdering Paramedic

Two teenagers should be convicted of murder for the shooting death of an off-duty paramedic in the Oakland hills two years ago, a prosecutor told jurors today. In his closing argument in the trial of Christian Burton and David McNeal, prosecutor Glenn Kim said, “We have a lot of evidence and when we put it together we know what occurred” when Quinn Boyer was shot shortly before noon on April 2, 2013, on Keller Avenue just below Skyline Boulevard.

Boyer, 34, a Santa Clara County paramedic who lived in Dublin and had been married for less than a year, crashed his car down a ravine in the 5200 block of Keller Avenue after he was shot and died two days later of a single gunshot wound to his head.

Boyer grew up in Oakland and had been in the city that day to take his father to a medical appointment. Kim said Boyer “was doing the right thing that day” because he had pulled his Honda Civic off to the side of the road to respond to a text message on his cellphone and “was an innocent person.”

In contrast, the prosecutor said Burton, who was 16 at the time and is now 18, and McNeal, who was 15 and is now 17, were part of a group of six juveniles who were supposed to be in school that day but instead were involved in a crime spree that included several carjackings and a robbery in addition to the shooting.

Burton and McNeal are being prosecuted as adults. Kim said that about an hour before Boyer was shot the six teens had begun their crime spree by stealing a gold Dodge Intrepid at gunpoint from a man outside the Island Market on High Street in East Oakland. But as the teens drove away in the Dodge Intrepid, they decided it was too cramped so they planned to carjack a bigger vehicle, Kim alleged. He said they followed a female driver on Keller Avenue as a possible target but then saw Boyer pulled over on the side of the road and decided that he would be a convenient victim.

Kim said Burton and one of the other teens, Nazhee Flowers, got out of the stolen Dodge Intrepid and Burton shot Boyer, Kim said. In a videotaped interview with Oakland police several weeks after the shooting that was played in court during the trial, Burton admitted that he shot Boyer but said it was an accident and he didn’t think the gun was loaded. But Kim said Burton knew the gun was loaded because the teens had ammunition with them in the stolen car and he “purposefully pulled the trigger and aimed the gun” at Boyer.

The prosecutor said, “He hit a bullseye.”

Kim said a short time later, while Boyer was at the hospital to be treated for injuries that ultimately would claim his life, Burton and the other teens went to the Macy’s store at the Southland mall to browse for clothes. Security camera footage of the teens at the store was played at the trial. Kim said that although McNeal didn’t shoot Boyer, he should be found guilty of murder because he played an active part in the shooting by supplying the gun that Burton used.

Kim said that in addition to murder, McNeal should be convicted of carjacking for two incidents on the day that Boyer was shot as well as assault and robbery for shooting a 13-year-old boy in East Oakland the following day and stealing the boy’s hat. Three of the teens who allegedly were with Boyer and McNeal pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in juvenile court for being accessories to the crime and are serving their sentences with the state Division of Juvenile Justice.

Flowers, now 18, pleaded guilty in adult court to a carjacking charge and was sentenced to 15 years in state prison. Flowers and the three teens who pled in juvenile court were all called to the witness stand in the trial of Burton and McNeal but weren’t cooperative.

However, Kim told jurors that he believes the other teens’ statements to police that Burton was the person who shot Boyer are true because the teens corroborated each other and their statements are supported by the physical evidence in the case. But Burton’s lawyer, Ernie Castillo, said he thinks it’s strange that Kim is asking jurors to believe the other teens and disregard the testimony of the woman who was the only eyewitness to the shooting, who provided a description of the shooter that Castillo said matches the clothes worn by Flowers that day, not those worn by Burton. Castillo said the statements by the other teens are full of “lies and deceit” and alleged that Kim “is asking you to make a deal with the devil (the other teens) to convict this kid,” referring to Burton.

Castillo, who will complete his closing argument when the trial resumes on Wednesday, asked jurors to find Burton not guilty. In his opening statement last month, Castillo said Burton initially told police that he wasn’t the shooter and alleged that the only reason that Burton later confessed was because police officers used “sophisticated tactics” when they interviewed him and lied by saying they had evidence that proved he was the shooter.

McNeal’s lawyer, David Bryden, will present his closing argument on Wednesday. In his opening statement, Bryden said McNeal should be found not guilty of murder because he didn’t shoot Boyer, never spoke to Boyer, didn’t help the shooter and didn’t drive the getaway car. Bryden didn’t address the other charges against McNeal.

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By Bay City News

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