Ex-Con Sentenced For Oakland Murder

OAKLAND, CA — An ex-convict was sentenced Monday to 29 years to life in state prison for fatally shooting a Dublin man during an attempted robbery in West Oakland in 2015.

Damion Dupclay, 27, pleaded no contest on Sept. 24 to first-degree murder and a gun charge for the shooting death of software engineer Jonathan Josiah Orbeton, 39, in the 1600 block of 18th Street near Martin Luther King Jr. Way at 2:37 a.m. on Nov. 12, 2015.

In return, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office dismissed a special circumstance allegation that he murdered Orbeton during the course of a robbery, an enhancement that could have resulted in Dupclay getting life in prison without parole or the death penalty.

Alameda County prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum that Orbeton went to a bar in West Oakland on the night of Nov. 11, 2015 and consumed a large amount of alcohol there.

They said a friend bought a pizza for Orbeton in hopes that he would eat it and sober up, but while he was eating Dupclay approached him at gunpoint. Dupclay, who had been paroled from state prison a few months earlier after serving time for a carjacking conviction, asked Orbeton to turn
over his belongings.

Prosecutors said Orbeton "refused to comply" so Dupclay shot him with a Glock 27 .40-caliber pistol.

They said Orbeton dropped to the sidewalk dead and Dupclay drove away in a black Nissan Sentra.

Oakland police said investigators reviewed surveillance video of the crime and saw Dupclay's car fleeing the area.

The car was spotted later that day but Dupclay fled, leading police on a pursuit to the corner of 14th and Wood streets in West Oakland.

Dupclay got out of the car and ran, but officers caught him quickly. They found a .40-caliber gun in his car that matched the casings found at the crime scene, police said.

After Dupclay was arrested he confessed to killing Orbeton, according to police.

Prosecutor Alex Hernandez wrote in his sentencing memo that Dupclay and Orbeton didn't know each other and said, "Mr. Orbeton was a working member of society when the defendant gunned him down for refusing to be robbed."

A friend of Orbeton who worked with him at a tech firm in San Francisco wrote in a letter to the court that Orbeton "had incredible software security skills and was instrumental in finding and stopping malicious and destructive cyber criminals."

The friend said Orbeton "traveled the world to speak at events teaching others his techniques and met with government officials in an effort to reduce this pervasive crime wave."

An online obituary for Orbeton said he was born in Westwood, Calif., but grew up in McKenzie Bridge, Ore., "loved the outdoors" and his most recent job had been with the Tesla Motor Car Company in Hayward.

The obituary said, "Jon loved dogs, kiteboarding, and the outdoors. He was also passionate about the environment and social justice."

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— Bay City News; Image via Shutterstock