People v. Heartsman CA1/4

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Shooting At about 2:20 on the afternoon of May 25, 2011, a City of Oakland police officer heard six to eight gunshots while he was on duty in East Oakland. Soon thereafter, he

1 All undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

1 heard that a victim had been found at Ritchie Street and Olive Street. He went to that location and found the victim, later identified as 17-year-old Ditiyan Franklin, lying facedown in a driveway. Franklin’s eyes were partially open. Franklin had suffered gunshot wounds to his upper arm, torso, and thigh, and died from a gunshot that pierced his lungs and heart. Another officer who arrived at the scene saw a bicycle on Ritchie Street and moved it to the curb. Two African-American males, later identified as Lionel Harris and his brother, came up to him. One of them asked if he could have the bike. The officer told him he could not have it, and the pair started to walk away. The officer asked, “Hey, was he riding the bike when this happened?” The response was something like, “Maybe,” or “I think so.” Seven casings were found at the scene, six from a .45 caliber weapon and one from a nine-millimeter weapon. The casings…