Judge Declares Mistrial in Double Murder Trial

OAKLAND, CA - A judge declared a mistrial today for an Oakland man who's charged with two counts of murder for the fatal shooting of two cousins at an East Oakland apartment complex in 2011 in what prosecutors said was a marijuana deal that went bad.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Gloria Rhynes issued her ruling in the trial of 27-year-old Kyle Puckett after jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked following more than five days of deliberations.

The jury's foreman said that in their last ballot the panel voted 8-4 to acquit Puckett in the shooting deaths of Raymond Greenwood, 20, of Oroville, and Joshua Crouseite, 22, of Fairfield, in the courtyard of an apartment complex in the 1300 block of MacArthur Boulevard at about 11:40 p.m. on Oct. 15, 2011. Both men were shot multiple times.

In his closing argument last week, prosecutor Butch Ford told jurors that they should find Puckett guilty. Ford said, "You've seen the evidence and the evidence shows that he's guilty. There should be no reasonable doubt."

But Puckett's lawyer, Barbara Dickinson, said Puckett should be found not guilty because she believes many questions about the shooting remain unresolved. Dickinson accused the prosecution of "trying to fit a square peg into a round hole" and said the prosecution's witnesses are unreliable because "they aren't consistent with each other."

The case was unsolved for about three and a half years until authorities arrested Puckett and another man, 23-year-old Dashawn Rico, on March 19, 2015. Prosecutors allege that Greenwood and Crouseite had a suitcase full of marijuana, that Puckett and Rico were attempting to steal it from them and that Puckett fired the shots that killed the two men.

Rico was also charged with two counts of murder and was scheduled to stand trial with Puckett but recently pleaded no contest to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 20. He didn't testify in Puckett's trial. Puckett said last week that he wasn't at the shooting scene and didn't kill Greenwood and Crouseite. Before Rhynes declared a mistrial, she asked the jury foreman if there was anything she could do to try to help them reach a unanimous verdict.

The foreman said, "Nothing comes to mind. We've heard all the evidence, we've gone over it piece by piece, we've had testimony read back and we've established a timeline." After Rhynes declared a mistrial, Dickinson said, "I'm disappointed Mr. Puckett wasn't acquitted but I'm glad he wasn't convicted." Rhynes ordered Puckett to return to court on Friday to have a date set for a new trial. Ford rushed from court without commenting on the mistrial or whether the Alameda County District Attorney's Office will prosecute him a second time.

Dickinson said she hopes Puckett isn't prosecuted again, saying, "We think he should be going home."

--Bay City News