Facing the prospect of standing trial a second time for murder, Samuel Blackmon instead struck a deal Wednesday with San Mateo County prosecutors that allowed him to plead guilty to a lesser charge of assault with a deadly weapon and walk out of jail a free man.
The agreement came a week after the jury in Blackmon’s original trial deadlocked on whether he was guilty of fatally shooting a man inside a Redwood City apartment in 2006.
Prosecutors said Tuesday they intended to retry the case, but on Wednesday they agreed to let Blackmon, 46, plead no contest to felony assault with a firearm in exchange for a two-year prison sentence and four years of parole.
With just over two years of credit for time served since he was arrested in March 2007, plus 111 extra days for good behavior, the former Hayward resident has fulfilled the sentence. He was to be released Wednesday evening from the men’s jail in Redwood City.
Blackmon faced 80 years to life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder and of being a felon in possession of a firearm, but both charges were dismissed under Wednesday’s deal.
“I’m pleased with the outcome. He’s going home and we’re not going to risk a life sentence,” said Blackmon’s defense attorney Lisa Maguire.
The deeply split jury in the first murder trial — seven found Blackmon guilty and five not guilty — gave prosecutors “a very tough road to come back from,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.
Judge Mark Forcum, who declared a mistrial after the jury could not reach a verdict, had suggested Wednesday’s plea to resolve the case, and handed down the sentence once both sides agreed.
Wagstaffe said Blackmon would not agree to a settlement that included additional time behind bars. He added that Wednesday’s deal gave prosecutors a conviction that could be important in the future.
Blackmon’s assault with a deadly weapon conviction will count as a second “strike” on his record, the first “strike” being a 1983 rape conviction in Alameda County. Under California law, he will face a life sentence if convicted of a third serious felony.
“Our goal was not the time, we understood the time was not going to be there,” Wagstaffe said, “but more that we get him a conviction that will make him a three-strike candidate on any future case. That was a bottom line for us.”
Had a second jury acquitted Blackmon or deadlocked on his guilt, he “would have walked out with nothing,” Wagstaffe said.
“Getting this middle ground, the plea bargain, served the community’s interests in this case,” Wagstaffe said.
Prosecutors accused Blackmon of shooting Jeffrey Henderson, 49, once in the back of the head inside a Redwood City apartment on July 6, 2006. Three weeks before the killing, Henderson had married Beatriz Buttler, who also had once dated Blackmon.
Authorities never found the murder weapon or any witnesses to the crime, and prosecutor Al Giannini relied heavily on circumstantial evidence for his argument that Blackmon killed Henderson so he could be with Buttler.
Giannini said Blackmon repeatedly lied to police about being in Redwood City the night of the killing even though cell phone records showed he was within blocks of the murder scene that night.
But defense attorney Maguire said Blackmon was on the Peninsula to visit Buttler at her job and noted the time-frame Giannini suggested was too tight for Blackmon to have committed the murder. She suggested police failed to fully investigate other potential suspects.
Four of Henderson’s friends and family members who attended Wednesday’s hearing were visibly distraught about the outcome, weeping quietly after Giannini told them about the plea bargain. One said, “This is ridiculous,” and walked out of the courtroom.
Blackmon declined to say anything before his sentencing other than “yes” and “no” as Forcum questioned him about waiving his rights to a jury trial as he entered the plea.
Blackmon had been living with Buttler, the woman at the center of the love triangle, when he was arrested and charged with Henderson’s murder in 2007. Maguire said she didn’t know whether Blackmon and Buttler will now get married.
E-mail Shaun Bishop at sbishop@dailynewsgroup.com.