The Solano County Superior Court officials have rescheduled legal proceedings once again for multiple members of a street gang from Vallejo that allegedly shot and killed three men between 2017 and 2018.
On Wednesday, 23-year-old Nickolas James Howland and 20-year-old Steven Tezel Sanderson, who are believed to have been responsible for the shooting murder of DeMario Williams in September 2017 and Coy Lacy Jr. in January 2018, showed up in Department 11. The agenda was for a motion to sever and a trial readiness conference.
Vallejo Street Gang Murders
However, Judge William J. Pendergast, who was in charge of the court meeting, rescheduled Howland and Sanderson’s readiness conference to be held at 8:30 a.m. on February 26.
The two suspects are also scheduled for a trial management conference at 8:30 a.m. on April 22 and a jury trial at 9:00 a.m. on April 26. All of the meetings were set to be held in Department 11 in the Fairfield Justice Center.
Fairfield Criminal Defense Attorney Curtis Boyd is representing Howland, while Attorney John Coffer is representing Sanderson. However, authorities have arrested a third man in connection with the murder of Lacy, 24-year-old Desean Lamar Johnson.
Vallejo police investigators said that Howland was a rapper while Sanderson and Johnson were members of a notorious criminal street gang from 200 Westwood. Johnson is also scheduled at 8:30 a.m. on February 3 in Department 11 for a trial setting, a readiness conference, and a ruling on a motion to suppress some evidence. Attorney Tim A. Pori is representing the third suspect.
A Solano County Grand Jury also indicted another suspect in the 2017 murder of Erik Green and attempted murder of his brother, Eian Green, 23-year-old Damaria Tijaraye Haskins in November 2018, Mercury News reported.
Authorities scheduled Haskins for a court appearance on Wednesday for a readiness conference and a trial setting. However, Pendergast also reshuffled his schedule and told him to return to court at 8:30 a.m. on February 26. Fairfield Criminal Defense Attorney Carol Long is representing Haskins.
On March 5, 2020, authorities sentenced 24-year-old Tiquon Ramon Hicks Jr., a formerly convicted gang member, to more than 27 years of imprisonment for the second-degree murder of Williams.
Leading the prosecution in the case of Hicks is Deputy District Attorney Eric Charm, who also leads the pending murder trials. Pendergast agreed to drop all except one of the pending trials in December 2019, leaving only Howland and Sanderson’s case.
