Crime & Safety
Oakland Defense Attorney Seeks Mistrial For 2011 Murders
Kyle Puckett, 29, was charged with killing his two cousins.
OAKLAND, CA -- A defense lawyer is seeking a mistrial in the case of an Oakland man who's charged with two counts of murder for the fatal shooting of two cousins at an Oakland apartment complex in 2011 in what prosecutors say was a marijuana deal that went bad.
If Alameda County Superior Court Judge Kevin Murphy grants attorney William Linehan's motion on behalf of Kyle Puckett, 29, at a hearing on Tuesday, it would be the second mistrial for Puckett for 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.
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A mistrial was declared in Puckett's first trial in 2016 after jurors deadlocked 8-4 in favor of acquitting him.
Puckett's second trial began two weeks ago but a potential problem developed during the lunch break when a man approached a juror who was eating near the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse, where the trial is taking place, and made comments about the case.
The juror reported the conversation to Judge Murphy and he and the lawyers in the case spent the afternoon questioning the jurors one-by-one about whether the incident affects their ability to keep an open mind about Puckett's case.
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Linehan's motion for a mistrial is based on his contention that the incident has affected jurors' ability to give Puckett a fair trial.
If Murphy denies the defense motion Linehan will then present his closing argument, as prosecutor Butch Ford presented his closing argument to jurors before they took their lunch break today.
The shooting deaths of Greenwood and Crouseite remained unsolved for about three and a half years until authorities arrested Puckett and another man, 25-year-old Deshawn Rico, on March 19, 2015.
Prosecutors allege that Greenwood and Crouseite had a suitcase full of marijuana and that Puckett shot them both as he and Rico sought to steal the marijuana from them.
Rico was also charged with two counts of murder but pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in 2016 and was sentenced to 11 years in state prison.
--Bay City News/Photo via Shutterstock