By Andy Furillo
afurillo@sacbee.com
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Greta Curtis Fall completed her instructions late this afternoon to the seven-man, five-woman jury in the Monk Mobb murder trial, and the panel is set to begin its deliberations Tuesday on two defendants charged in the Halloween Night 2008 shooting death of a party host.
Elijah Rasean Fields, 20, and Corey Carmicle, 24, sat silently throughout the day as their lawyers and the prosecuting attorney gave the jury their final arguments in the case.
Fields and Carmicle are accused of murder in the Nov. 1, 2008, killing of Patrick Razaghzadeh, 24.
Razaghzadeh was shot down amid rising tensions at the party between his guests and reputed members of the Monk Mobb, a street gang from North Highlands.
Fields admitted that he did the shooting, but his lawyer, Peter Kmeto, argued to the jury that the case amounted to "imperfect self defense." Kmeto, recounting Fields' testimony from last week, said his client thought he was being "bull rushed" by Razaghzadeh and shot him in fear that he was about to be attacked. Kmeto asked the jury to return a voluntary manslaughter verdict against his client.
Deputy District Attorney Andrew Soloman said Fields acted in conscious disregard for human life and that the fact he was carrying a gun established evidence of premeditation. He said Fields' testimony that the defendant shot wildly at a party establishes a case for at least a second-degree murder conviction.
Soloman said the killing was the outgrowth of the gang mindset that governed both Fields and Carmicle. Soloman said Carmicle had amped up the tension at the party by getting into conflicts with other guests with the intention of bringing the event to a violent boil.
Carmicle's attorney, Danny Brace, said his client did not know what Fields was going to do. Brace asked the jury to acquit his client of all charges.
Besides the murder count, the two defendants are charged in three additional counts of attempted murder over the three other party guests who were shot and wounded.
Call The Bee's Andy Furillo, (916) 321-1141.
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