Prosecutor: Man In '05, '07 Killings Should Get Death
POSTED: 3:54 pm PDT October 2, 2009
UPDATED: 4:00 pm PDT October 2, 2009
SAN DIEGO -- A man charged with killing three people during robberies in 2005 and 2007 in San Diego should face the death penalty if convicted, a prosecutor told a judge Friday.
Michael Baraka Mason, 33, was allegedly one of several masked robbers who burst into a Valencia Park home on Nov. 25, 2005 and held several people hostage before shooting two men who later died, police said.
Several people were inside the home at the time and insisted they had no money, but the bandits apparently didn't believe them and held them for about seven hours before shooting 31-year-old Meico McGhee and 25-year-old Sacha Newbern, according to authorities. The victims died at a hospital the next day.
Mason is also charged with murder and attempted murder in the July 14, 2007, shooting death of a man and the wounding of his girlfriend during an attempted robbery in Normal Heights. The defendant also faces special circumstance allegations of murder during a robbery and multiple murders.
A second defendant, Tamoyia Morris, is charged with murder in the 2005 Valencia Park killings and is also charged with murder and attempted murder and shooting from a vehicle in the 1995 death of Galdino Villareal and the wounding of Shaun Theobalds, said Deputy District Attorney Anthony Campagna.
Morris, 32, is also charged with special circumstances of multiple murders, murder during a robbery and murder for the benefit of a gang. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.
Jessica Monique Jones is charged with being an accessory after the fact and faces three years in prison if convicted, the prosecutor said.
A status conference is scheduled Oct. 16 at the downtown courthouse.
All bad...