"Matthew John, 21, had been charged with fatally shooting 22-year-old Joshua Hopkins on Feb. 22, 2023, as the two argued on the 2200 block of Seminary Avenue. In September, prosecutors dropped the murder case, but John isn't completely out of hot water - he pleaded no contest to robbing a Berkeley jewelry store with two others in a $98,000 takeover heist, and will serve three years in state prison, court records show."
"John's two co-defendants in the robbery, Jafar Neal and Derell Woods, also accepted plea deals for prison sentences of three and eight years, respectively, court records show. Police say the three men targeted the 14 Karats jewelry store on the 2900 block of College Avenue in Berkeley on Jan. 24, 2023, with one robber pointing a gun at the owner while others smashed jewelry cases."
""(Hopkins) told me he needed to go to the hospital. He was shot, and he was bleeding," she testified. She later added that she tried to get him to a doctor, but, "he bled out in front of my apartment." On cross-examination, she testified that Hopkins had several mental illnesses, including "ADHD, schizophrenia, (and) bipolar disorder," but that he didn't get physically aggressive with people."
Prosecutors dropped the murder charge against Matthew John related to the Feb. 22, 2023, shooting death of Joshua Hopkins. John pleaded no contest to a takeover robbery of a Berkeley jewelry store valued at $98,000 and received a three-year state prison sentence. Two co-defendants, Jafar Neal and Derell Woods, accepted plea deals carrying three- and eight-year sentences, respectively. Preliminary hearing testimony included Hopkins returning to an apartment bleeding from a gunshot wound and a witness saying he bled out in front of the apartment. Cross-examination raised Hopkins' mental health history.
Read at The Mercury News
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]