Defendant acquitted in Modesto murder, but might spend the rest of life in prison

A jury has acquitted Edward Deandre Mitchell on a charge of murder in connection with a 2006 Modesto armed robbery that resulted in the shooting death of Balbir Boyal.

But Mitchell might still spend the rest of his life in prison.

Mitchell was convicted of three other 2006 armed robberies. The enhancements on those charges will add prison time to his sentence. Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager said Mitchell, 30, faces a maximum sentence of 60 years and 4 months to life in prison.

The prosecution accused Mitchell of participating in a series of armed robberies at Modesto convenience stores that terrorized the community for two months as some of the store clerks were shot even after complying with thieves and handing over the cash.

The defense said the prosecution’s evidence was weak and relied on witnesses looking for plea deals or avoid identifying others involved.

Like the other store clerks victimized, Boyal – owner of BK Liquors at 150 Riverside Drive in east Modesto – was held-up at gunpoint by a masked gunman. Boyal tried reaching for a baseball bat moments before the gunman opened fire.

It took 11 years for the Boyal murder case to reach trial. Mitchell has been in custody since his June 2006 arrest. Testimony and arguments in his trial lasted nearly two months, before the jury began its deliberations June 23. The jurors continued deliberating for about six days until they reached a verdict Friday afternoon.

The jurors decided there was not sufficient evidence presented to prove Mitchell killed Boyal. Fladager said Monday the jury also found Mitchell not guilty of committing an armed robbery at One Stop Gas N Go and an attempted robbery at the Sunset Market.

But the jury found Mitchell guilty of committing robberies at the am-pm minimarket on Standiford Avenue, the Stop N Save on Oakdale Road and the Stop N Save on Coffee Road. Two of those robbery charges included enhancements for using a gun in the crime and inflicting great bodily injury on the clerks. The other robbery charge included an enhancement for using a gun.

SECOND TRIAL

Mitchell might stand trial again. The jury was deadlocked on one robbery charge stemming from a hold-up at Sylvan Liquors. Fladager said her office will decide whether to seek another trial for the remaining charge at the defendant’s sentencing hearing.

Superior Court Judge Marie Silveira has not yet scheduled Mitchell’s sentencing hearing. The defendant, who remains in custody at the county jail, will return to court Sept. 12.

Mitchell was represented in the trial by defense attorneys David Headley and Lawrence Barnes based in the Bay Area. Headley argued in the trial that the prosecution’s “star witness,” Laron Tavon Davis, lied to authorities to get his plea deal and avoid identifying a member of a notorious Oakland street gang as the man responsible for the series of violent robberies.

Davis testified he was the getaway driver in a series of 2006 Modesto armed robberies, but he didn’t want to be involved in any shootings.

Even after reading newspaper reports of convenience store clerks shot in some of those robberies, Davis continued to be Mitchell’s getaway driver, according to Davis’ testimony. Davis said on the witness stand that he continued to participate in the robberies up until the BK Liquors robbery on June 7, 2006, when Boyal was killed.

MASKED GUNMAN

The prosecution argued that in all but one of the robberies, a single gunman who covered his face robbed convenience store clerks and shot or tried to shoot five of the clerks. In one of the robberies, two gunmen entered the store.

Deputy District Attorney Tanja Titre and Assistant District Attorney Dave Harris prosecuted the case. Titre told the jury that Boyal stayed behind the counter and reached for the bat to defend himself just before he was shot four times.

At the home where Mitchell was arrested, investigators found a silver-automatic handgun that matched expended shell casings found in two of the first three robberies, Titre argued. Also found at the home was a black 9mm handgun with a brown handle that matched expended shell casings in a May 31, 2006, robbery and the robbery that killed Boyal several days later.

Headley told the jury DNA tests on the silver handgun and the black handgun did not link the weapon to Mitchell.

This story was originally published July 10, 2017 at 5:02 PM with the headline "Defendant acquitted in Modesto murder, but might spend the rest of life in prison."