Retrial begins of pair accused of broad-daylight murder of city photographer
The retrial of the pair accused of murdering an elderly photographer at a San Francisco beauty spot in 2017 began today with prosecutors giving a second-by-second account of the killing to jurors.
The court heard that, during a robbery at Twin Peaks overlook, Fantasy Decuir shot dead 71-year-old Ed French before her accomplice, Lamonte Mims, kicked the dying man. Shortly afterwards they traveled to the city’s SOMA district where they sought to fence Mr French’s camera.
Assistant District Attorney Aaron Laycook told the jury that the victim was shot shortly after the defendants approached him and robbed him.
“During that struggle Ms Decuir made a choice: she fired a gun – she shot and killed Ed French,” he said.
“He was hit by a single gunshot wound in the mid-chest…the bullet went through his heart and a lung,” Laycook added, showing jurors an image of the photographer’s body.
“Throughout the morning of July 16, Ms Decuir was conscious of her actions,” he said.
“She’s not wandering aimlessly, sitting unresponsive, she’s walking purposefully toward the person with expensive camera equipment. The gun doesn’t hang limply at her side, or wander all over the place, but stayed focused.”
Decuir’s attorney, Mark Iverson, did not deny that his client shot Ed French. But, he explained, the evidence would show that she was in the throes of a sickle cell crisis, suffering from opioid painkiller withdrawal, had a severe intellectual impairment, marked by an IQ of 65, and had slept poorly the night before the killing. As such she didn’t have the “specific intent” to commit the crime.
“This case is a manslaughter not a felony murder,” he said.
Cheryl Rich, for Mims, said her client did not participate in the killing.
“Lamonte Mims did not kill Mr French, did not shoot Mr French, did not murder Mr French,” she said. “He did rob Mr French, but that is all.”
The defendants each face one count of first-degree murder with special circumstances. Decuir is charged with an additional count of second-degree robbery. If convicted, and the alleged special circumstances are proven, they face life without the possibility of parole although, in practice, they are unlikely to serve a life term regardless of the sentence imposed.
A previous jury became “hopelessly deadlocked” and failed to reach verdicts on the charges after five days’ deliberation and “at least seven or eight” votes.
The trial, before Superior Court Judge Alexandra Robert Gordon, continues.
Shortly before 8:00am on Sunday July 16 2017, security camera footage shows Ed French sitting on the wall of Twin Peaks scenic overlook while taking photographs and drinking from a cup.
Eight minutes after French arrives, Decuir and Mims approach him from behind. Mims pulls an item away from French causing him to fall backwards off the wall at which point Decuir draws a handgun and fires a single shot at his torso. Mims, say prosecutors, then kicks the dying man.
No more than twenty seconds elapse between the pair accosting French and Decuir shooting him.
They then make their escape in a dark gray Honda Accord taking French’s Canon Mk III camera with them which, less than an hour later, the pair attempted to fence near 7th and Mission.
Decuir’s day was eventful. Hours after killing French, she was involved in a traffic accident and detained for nearly an hour by SFPD officers who placed her in handcuffs. Although she was released having been given a ticket for driving without a license, prosecutors have stated that her interactions with police officers where cogent and belie her claim to have been unconscious earlier in the morning.
Also on July 16 Decuir visited with an inmate – gang member Danquay Johnson – at San Francisco County Jail. That evening Decuir and Mims went with friends to a Benihana restaurant in Burlingame.
Six days before the killing, Lamonte Mims was released from jail by Judge Sharon Reardon, having been arrested for gun possession while on felony probation. Reardon’s decision was made on the basis of a ‘risk assessment’ prepared by the SF Pretrial Diversion Project – who claimed that a data input error led to their algorithm generating an erroneous recommendation to release Mims.
Almost two weeks after French’s death, on the morning of July 28 2017, Decuir and Mims robbed at gunpoint a couple visiting San Francisco from Italy. The tourists were taking photographs outside St Mary’s Cathedral when Mims pointed a semi-automatic pistol at the man’s chest.
Decuir later posted photographs on social media of the camera stolen from their victims and of an iPad purchased within hours of the robbery using a credit card also taken from them.
Decuir and Mims were charged with robbery on August 3 2017. Four days later the pair were charged with the murder and robbery of Ed French. On August 2 Decuir posted photographs on Instagram – where she went by the monicker Fanbanga – of her apparently outside a courtroom, captioned:
“[m]e & pops viben [fingers crossed emoji] [heart emoji] befo we step in these crackers court house [middle finger emoji] [police officer emoji]”
The still-operable Instagram account is used as a rallying point for Decuir’s supporters, and includes photos and videos taken while since she has been incarcerated in San Francisco County Jail.
Several commenters, using the hashtag #FreeFanBanga, express the hope that she will be released.
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