Judge Finds Man Not Guilty of Oakland Murder

A 64-year-old Vallejo man will be released from jail later today after a judge found him not guilty of a charge that he murdered his long-time friend in West Oakland three years ago.

At the end of a non-jury trial, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Larry Goodman said “a whole lot of things aren’t known” about the death of 52-year-old Leonard Wafford, who was found dead inside a house owned by
Shipman in the 1700 block of Filbert Street on Aug. 8, 2012, but prosecutors didn’t provide enough evidence to prove that Ronald Shipman had killed him.

“There are too many unanswered questions,” Goodman said. Prosecutor Danielle Hilton argued that Shipman killed Wafford
during a robbery, but Goodman said he’s not convinced that Shipman, who had known Wafford since childhood, robbed Wafford and said the absence of a motive indicates that Shipman isn’t guilty.

Shipman’s mother bequeathed him the house on Filbert Street, which Goodman said was used as a drug house, but he mostly stayed at another house that he owned in Vallejo, according to the evidence in the case.

Oakland police initially thought Wafford died of a drug overdose because he had cocaine and alcohol in his system, but later ruled that the case was a homicide because his cause of death was asphyxiation.

Shipman was arrested and charged with murder on July 15, 2013, after police said DNA evidence linked him to Wafford’s death and his cellphone was found at the scene. Goodman said he thinks the reason there wasn’t enough convincing evidence to find Shipman guilty of murder is that the Oakland Police Department did a poor job of investigating Wafford’s death.

He said, “Sometimes you can make lemons out of lemonade but in this case law enforcement didn’t put the prosecution in position to make lemonade.” Goodman said Officer Robert Rosin, one of the lead investigators in the case, didn’t do follow-up interviews with Wafford’s family, took
nearly two years to look for a car that was a crucial piece of evidence in the case, didn’t canvass the neighborhood where Wafford’s body was found and didn’t follow up on phone numbers that were found on Wafford’s phone, even though Wafford made many phone calls the night he died.

Goodman said the evidence indicates that Wafford, who grew up in Oakland but lived in Las Vegas at the time of his death, died on Aug. 7, 2012, but his body wasn’t found until nearly 24 hours later.

The judge said that although Wafford died of asphyxia, a pathologist testified there was no clear indication that he was strangled.
Shipman’s lawyer, Benjamin Chiang, said, “There’s no convincing evidence that this was a homicide and even if there was an assault, there’s no proof that Mr. Shipman was the one who attacked him.”

Hilton said, “When you look at the totality of the facts in this case, it clearly was a homicide,” and she said she thinks Shipman should have been convicted of murder.
After Goodman announced his ruling, Hilton said, “I’m heartbroken that Mr. Wafford’s family didn’t get closure but I understand why the judge did what he did.”

Chiang said, “It was a difficult decision for Judge Goodman but he did the right thing.”
The daughter of Wafford’s girlfriend, who Wafford helped raise, broke down in tears today when Goodman issued his ruling.
Two of Wafford’s nieces were also present for the ruling but Hilton said Wafford’s mother and sisters weren’t emotionally up for attending because she had warned them that Goodman might find Shipman not guilty.

Although Goodman acquitted Shipman of the murder charge, he told Shipman, “You blatantly lied to the police, lied about your whereabouts and lied about where you saw the victim.” The judge said, “Based on the totality of the evidence, you have
more information about this than what you’re telling us. That’s between you and your maker.”

By Bay City News

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