Four men pleaded no contest Monday in a sweeping gang shooting case that illuminated reams of racist text messages shared between dozens of Antioch police officers.
Terryon Pugh, Eric Windom, Keyshawn McGee and Trent Allen all pleaded no contest Monday to voluntary manslaughter and attempted murder in the March 2021 shooting death of Arnold Marcel Hawkins, 23.
Pugh is expected to receive 20 years in prison under a plea deal with the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office. Windom and Allen are expected to be sentenced to 19 years in prison and McGee agreed to a deal calling for 18 years and 8 months behind bars. They are expected to be sentenced later this week.
In addition, Pugh pleaded no contest to attempted murder in separate shooting at a 76 gas station a week before Hawkins’ death.
The four were arrested and charged with murder and attempted murder after prosecutors claimed they traveled together from San Leandro to Antioch and fatally shot one person and wounded another. Hawkins died of his injuries six months after the shooting. Prosecutors also alleged the men committed crimes to benefit an Oakland-based gang.
But in early 2022, the FBI and Contra Costa DA began investigating more than a dozen Antioch and Pittsburg cops for alleged crimes, which led to a second, parallel scandal: After seizing a number of officers’ phones, investigators found dozens of Antioch cops had exchanged racist, sexist and homophobic text messages, with numerous communications referencing their jobs and people they were investigating, including the defendants in this case.
After the messages surfaced, prosecutors conceded that the Antioch officers had violated the Racial Justice Act, a new state law designed to weed racism out of the criminal justice system.
A Contra Costa County Superior Court judge later dismissed all special-circumstances enhancements against the four men, taking away life without the possibility of parole as a potential outcome.
Check back for updates to this developing report.