Jury can’t reach murder verdict in Hayward case where man was found with a body in his truck; defendant guilty of attempting to kill cops

OAKLAND — After five days of deliberations, an Alameda County jury announced it was unable to come to a decision on a murder charge against a Contra Costa man who was found with the dead body of his friend in his car, but argued during trial he killed the man in self-defense.

Jurors, however, did reach verdicts on other serious felony charges; they convicted 32-year-old Charles Goetting of attempting to murder BART police officers, as well as assault with a deadly weapon on peace officers. Despite avoiding a murder conviction, Goetting still faces a maximum sentence of 35 years and eight months to life.

The Alameda County District Attorney’s office declined to comment on the case, and it is unknown whether they will move to re-try Goetting. At the present, he is still facing an unresolved count of murder.

During Goetting’s March trial, deputy district attorney Luis Marin argued that evidence showed Goetting had executed his friend, 40-year-old Colin Anderson, with a “kill shot,” and that when two BART officers stumbled upon Goetting at the Hayward station on Christmas Day 2015, he panicked and tried to kill them both so they wouldn’t discover Anderson’s body in his U-Haul truck.

Goetting’s lawyer contended that days earlier, a drug-addled Anderson had attacked Goetting with an airsoft gun and that Goetting — believing it to be a real firearm — shot his friend in the head in self-defense. Both men were addicted to heroin and Anderson believed Goetting was holding out on him, the defense argued.

Goetting struck a BART officer in the arm, as a second officer tackled him to the ground. During the encounter, police shot Goetting four to five times and he required hospitalization.

While the murder case may have seemed straightforward, the fact that there were no witnesses to the homicide besides Goetting may have given some jurors serious pause.

Under state law, if jurors decide that both the prosecution and defense theories of a case are reasonable, they are required to acquit, said Darryl Stallworth, a Bay Area defense attorney who has tried numerous murder cases and spoke to this newspaper as a legal expert. In other words, prosecutors needed to prove definitively, without the benefit of an eyewitness, that Goetting’s claims about being attacked were bogus.

“The prosecution has the responsibility to prove the person beyond a reasonable doubt. The fact that the defense theory is reasonable that is the definition of reasonable doubt,” Stallworth said. Stallworth added the hung jury, “Does not surprise me.”

“What I’ve learned over the years is that a jury’s perception of what takes place is different than what the public sees,” he said. “When the public gets these quick factual summaries they don’t get the benefit of being in the courtroom and listening to testimony for hours and digesting information that both attorneys have given and how the law applies to a given theory.”

Regarding the police shooting, prosecutors had to prove that Geotting intended to kill BART Officer Carlos Dazhan and Officer Timothy Eads, who Goetting shot in the arm. Both officers testified that Goetting pulled a pistol on him after they informed him of their intent to search him. He fired at point-blank range from a short distance, and jurors saw officer body camera footage of the shooting.

Dazhan tackled and shot Goetting, while Eads attempted to duck behind an electrical box to avoid the gunfire. Goetting’s attorney, deputy public defender Sydney Levin, argued that her client was “terrified” after spending two days without sleep following the fatal shooting of Anderson and had not meant to kill the officers.

Levin conceded, though, that Goetting had committed a lesser felony: assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer.

Goetting’s sentencing date has not yet been set. The public defender’s office declined to comment on the partial verdict.