Seven years later, killing of East Oakland man results in prison sentence

An ex-felon was sentenced on Friday to 11 years in state prison for fatally shooting a man in East Oakland in 2012 in a case that had remained unsolved until last year.

Jonathan Weems, 30, was charged with murder for the shooting death of 36-year-old Tyrone Braswell of Oakland in the 1900 block of 26th Avenue at about 12:30 a.m. on March 29, 2012.

But on Feb. 21, Weems pleaded no contest to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.

Multiple witnesses identified Weems as the suspect in Braswell’s shooting death and he was arrested on a murder warrant at 922 Union St. in Oakland on April 26, 2018, Oakland police Officer Omar Daza-Quiroz wrote in a probable cause statement.

Daza-Quiroz didn’t disclose a motive for the fatal shooting. On May 10, 2018, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office charged Weems with murder and being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm. Prosecutors allege that Weems was convicted of selling a controlled substance in 2010 and of driving under the influence of alcohol in 2013.

However, as part of Weems’ plea deal, Alameda County prosecutors dismissed the ex-felon in possession of a firearm charge and struck his prior convictions for sentencing purposes, which meant that they couldn’t be used against him to increase his prison term.