MARTINEZ — Two accused San Francisco gang members admitted their involvement in a 2016 freeway shooting that killed a Vallejo mother of four, accepting drastically different prison terms.
Demario Pitteard — thought to be driving the assailants’ car when 25-year-old Shanique Marie was shot and killed on Highway 4 nearly three years ago — pleaded no contest Friday to first-degree murder and received a sentence of 25 years to life. His co-defendant Marcus Gaines, accused of ordering the hit earlier in the day, pleaded no contest to manslaughter and received a six-year prison term.
Gaines maintains his innocence, and took the plea deal because it was the least risky move, his attorney said. If both defendants had been tried and convicted, they faced a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
The plea deals come weeks after Gaines’ and Pitteard’s dramatic, three-month trial, which ended with no verdict when a juror abruptly died after weeks of deliberations.
After the plea deal, both Gaines’ attorney, Chris Martin, and the prosecutor, Chad Mahalich, said they believed jurors would have sided with them had they been allowed to finish deliberating.
“The evidence against Pitteard, though circumstantial, was highly compelling and overwhelming,” Mahalich said. “I think it’s clear from his age and from the circumstances that he was much more active. He was coming up, putting in work, whereas Gaines was more at the tail-end of his career. … A lot of times, people who are higher up in the gang can avoid responsibility.”
Martin, meanwhile, called the outcome a “huge win” for his client, who has roughly two years of credit for time served in jail under his belt. He will be released in late 2021.
“When you get six years on a life without parole case, it’s hard to look at that any other way,” Martin said. “Mr. Gaines maintained his innocence all along, but the conduct was arguably suspicious, so a jury could have convicted him. This was the right thing to do.”
Pitteard’s lawyer did not immediately return a request for comment.
The shooting is believed to be the result of a feud between two San Francisco gangs, and authorities say Marie was not the intended target. According to the prosecution, Pitteard — a member of a Hunter’s Point gang called Towerside who rapped under the moniker “Nasty O” — had a rivalry with San Francisco rapper Kenyana Jones, 22, who raps under the stage name “Yatta.”
Earlier in the day, Gaines and one of Jones’ close friends bumped into each other at a gas station in Pittsburg. Moments later, Gaines called someone who was with Pitteard, in a car that was already nearby. The car followed Jones’ friend onto the freeway and someone inside shot at the car, striking Marie by accident, authorities said.
“People sometimes say, ‘Oh, if it’s a gang rivalry, I’m not as interested in it as a citizen.’ Well, you need to be because the girlfriend was the innocent bystander who got hit with a bullet that was intended for the rival,” Mahalich said. “It was a shooting in broad daylight on the freeway, with people driving to work and taking their kids to daycare.”
Martin said that Gaines “was the victim of circumstance” and called the timing of the call a coincidence. But Mahalich was skeptical.
“No one’s that unlucky. That’s like being struck by lightning seven times,” Mahalich said.
Months after the shooting, authorities arrested and charged Pitteard, Gaines and two others — Kevin Carter and Corey McCroey — in the killing. After the preliminary hearing, prosecutors dropped all charges against Carter, citing lack of evidence, and allowed McCroey to plead to a gun charge and receive a year in jail.
“Decisions were made with respect to both Mr. McCroey and Mr. Carter. At this point I’m not going to question why,” Mahalich said. “Though I will say I think Mr. Carter got very lucky. It would behoove him to not lead a life of crime.”
Marie’s death was part of a wave of freeway shootings around the Bay Area that led to increased surveillance along Highway 4. The area where she was killed now has license plate readers, security cameras, gunfire sensors and undercover police on regular patrols.
