Despite pleas from his lawyers to prevent prosecutors from seeking capital punishment, the man accused of killing seven people across Stockton and Oakland, Wesley Brownlee, may still face the death penalty.
Judge Xapuri Villapudua denied the defense's request in a Monday morning hearing at San Joaquin County Superior court, stating that the issue of the death penalty may be addressed again later in the case.
Although Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order in 2019 halting the use of the death penalty in California, prosecutors can still seek it. Brownlee's lawyer argued that there is no legal basis on which executions can be carried out, pointing to Newsom's order.
Brownlee, a former truck driver and Stockton resident with ties to Oakland, was arrested near Panella Park in October and is charged with seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. The killings followed a pattern in which a person in dark clothes approached victims in secluded areas at night before shooting them with a handgun, according to police.
Under the multiple murders special circumstance, Brownlee is eligible to be condemned. However, prosecutors are still deciding whether to seek the death penalty in his case. Brownlee's lawyer hopes to fully air out the question of whether the people should be able to pursue this as a capital case as the case progresses. For more on this story check it out on the Stockton Record.