Man accused of murder in Modesto drive-by shooting, series of armed robberies
Marcus White on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and attempted murder in connection with a June 12 drive-by shooting in west Modesto that killed a 25-year-old Sacramento man.
Terelle Swearengin and a 22-year-old Modesto man were among a group of men walking along the 800 block of Sutter Avenue shortly before 4:30 p.m., when someone in a vehicle shot at them, Modesto police has said.
Swearengin and the Modesto man were struck by gunfire. Swearengin died at a local hospital shortly after the shooting. The Modesto man survived.
White, 20, of Modesto, also is accused of participating in a series of 12 armed robberies at stores in Stanislaus County from May 3 through Nov. 13 of last year. In those crimes, prosecutors charged White with 13 counts of robbery and 11 counts of being a felon in possession of a gun.
The robberies include two Aug. 25 holdups that occurred within an hour and nearly nine miles of each other in Modesto. The first armed robbery occurred at Frontier Town General Store on Tully Road, just north of Standiford Avenue; the second occurred at Diamond Gas & Mart on Yosemite Boulevard near South McClure Road.
Modesto police in mid-September released photos from security cameras at the stores robbed on Aug. 25. Officials at the time were asking for the public to help identify the robbers in the photos.
Each robbery charge against White has an enhancement for allegedly using a gun to commit the crime. If convicted, the enhancements could increase a prison sentence.
Prosecutors also have charged White with one count of kidnapping in connection with an Oct. 24 robbery at Village Wine & Spirits on Sylvan Avenue near Claus Road in Modesto. Prosecutors allege that White held a store employee captive before releasing the victim, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday.
Authorities in November released photos of the Village Wine & Spirits robbery and other armed robberies they believed were possibly linked. Some of the other robberies were included in White's charges.
Deputy Public Defender Reed Wagner, White's court-appointed attorney, entered the not guilty plea on all charges on behalf of his client. Wagner also denied the enhancements on behalf of White.
Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Dawna Reeves set White's bail amount at $3 million. The judge scheduled White to return to court Tuesday for a pretrial hearing. The defendant remained in custody Wednesday evening in Stanislaus County Jail.
About two weeks after Swearengin's death, White and two 17-year-old Modesto boys were arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder in connection with the June 12 shooting.
The criminal case against the two teenage boys remains in Juvenile Court. Prosecutors were awaiting a hearing to determine if the boys can be prosecuted as adults, according to the Stanislaus County District Attorney's Office. Proposition 57, a state ballot measure approved by voters in November, means a judge has to decide whether a minor can be prosecuted as an adult.
Prosecutors in early July felt they did not have enough evidence to proceed with a case against White, so they chose not to file charges against him in the deadly shooting.
White remained in custody at the county jail on a charge of violating probation stemming from a March 3 felony conviction for possessing stolen property. He was later released from jail.
The robberies White is accused of occurred in May, June, August, September, October and November; not in July when, White was still in custody dealing with the violating probation charge.
White was arrested in December in the Bay Area in connection with a home invasion robbery in Elk Grove. As part of large-scale investigation, authorities issued an arrest warrant for White in connection with the Swearengin shooting and the series of robberies. White was returned to Stanislaus County Jail on Monday.
The robbery investigation culminated in authorities serving search warrants at 10 homes throughout Stanislaus County in December. Three others were charged in connection with four of the robberies.
This story was originally published January 24, 2018 at 4:56 PM with the headline "Man accused of murder in Modesto drive-by shooting, series of armed robberies."