By Bay City News
A judge today ordered two men to stand trial on charges that they're responsible for the gunning down of two teenage girls near Brookdale Park in East Oakland last November.
At the end of a preliminary hearing that lasted a day and a half, Alameda County Superior Court Jon Rolefson said prosecutors produced sufficient evidence to have 18-year-old Diantay Powell face a trial on two counts of murder for the deaths of 16-year-old Bobbie Sartain and 15-year-old Raquel Gerstel shortly after 5 a.m. on Nov. 25, 2012.
Powell also faces the special circumstance of committing multiple murders and could face the death penalty if prosecutors seek that punishment and he's convicted. If prosecutors don't seek the death penalty, he could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Rolefson said prosecutors also produced sufficient evidence to have Antonio Edwards, 20, stand trial on an accessory charge for allegedly driving Powell away from the shooting scene.
Oakland police said at least two-dozen shots were fired in the incident.
A 16-year-old juvenile who was with Powell, Edwards and the two teenage girls at the time of the shooting testified on Tuesday that the shooting occurred after Powell announced to the group, which he said was hanging out in a car driven by Edwards, that his girlfriend would be joining them.
The juvenile said Powell's comment angered Sartain and she slapped Powell but he retaliated by slapping her.
Gerstel came to Sartain's defense by getting out of the car, which was parked in the 2600 block of Minna Avenue, and argued with Powell, but Powell then shot her, the 16-year-old said.
Sartain tried to run away and yelled that she wouldn't tell anyone that Powell had shot Gerstel but Powell shot her as well, the juvenile said.
When Gerstel fell to the ground after being struck by the initial shots, Powell walked up to her and fired three to five more bullets into her body at close range, the youth said.
Another witness in the case, 30-year-old Albert Rich, who has prior convictions for false imprisonment and illegal gun possession, testified on Tuesday that Powell admitted a few days after the incident that he had fatally shot Gerstel and Sartain.
According to family members and friends, Gerstel and Sartain were friends who grew up together in Alameda. Gerstel lived in San Leandro and was a freshman at Arroyo High School in San Lorenzo. Sartain lived on High Street in Oakland, a few blocks from where the shooting happened.
Family members of the two teen girls attended the hearing for Powell and Edwards and sobbed during portions of the testimony about the double killing.
Although Edwards only faces three years in state prison if he's convicted of being an accessory in the shooting, he could face a lengthy term if he's convicted in connection with an unrelated incident in the 2800 block of Ettie Street in East Oakland two weeks later, on Dec. 8.
For that incident, Edwards is charged with robbery, rape, assault with a deadly weapon and other sex charges for allegedly joining another man in sexually assaulting a woman and knocking her boyfriend unconscious.
Powell and Edwards are scheduled to return to court on June 6 to have a trial date set on the charges stemming from the deaths of Sartain and Gerstel.
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