Oakland man not guilty of murder in 2021 Concord homicide
MARTINEZ An Oakland man who spent two years in jail awaiting trial has been acquitted of murder in connection with a Concord shooting and a police inquiry centering on a large extended family Viliami Ofanoa had been accused of murdering -year-old Robert Franklin Currier in a March shooting but on June a jury detected him not guilty of murder while convicted him of a firearm possession offense Ofanoa was then sentenced to a year in jail for the gun charge time he d already served behind bars He then walked out of jail with about days to celebrate his birthday as a free man for the first time in two years Eli Miller an attorney with the county s Alternate Defender s Office argued in court that Ofanoa was innocent This was a sad and demanding occurrence and I know the jurors worked hard to methodically and objectively examine every piece of evidence presented to them Miller reported in an email I am grateful for their effort and confident they reached the right verdict Ofanoa was arrested two days after the March homicide but then police distributed him without charges Two years later he was charged with murder and taken back into custody Police disclosed in a news release that the incident was based on a detailed analysis of phone records DNA evidence and license plate reader figures But all three of those things more or less amounted to what Ofanoa readily admitted to the cops that he was present in an SUV that carried Currier s killer to and away from the scene Ofanoa gave a police interview where he stated that the real killer had pointed a gun at him and forced him to drive around Concord then informed him to stop and left the motorcycle During the other man s absence Ofanoa stated he heard shots and that he drove away after the man got back in the car But bureaucrats didn t believe Ofanoa s story He was charged with personally and intentionally killing Currier who was shot a limited minutes after midnight on the block of Concord Avenue in Concord Police identified the SUV as the suspect s car and identified Ofanoa as the driver based on cellphone records and a photo from the Benicia Bridge Tollbooth court records show Police interviewed a large group of Ofanoa s immediate and extended family Cellphone records indicated three people were present for the shooting including Ofanoa But when the other subjects and their family members were interviewed no one s story aligned perfectly Specific provided alibis stating Ofanoa was in Richmond and never left on the night of March or the following early morning according to court records Another man announced it wasn t me but refused to implicate anyone One witness declared he and two others went to Oakland not Concord that night but slipped up at one point and gave a vague answer when solicited where in Concord they d gone functionaries explained Another witness explained the shooter had on a face mask according to court records Two other persons were arrested but Ofanoa was the only one to face charges Now with his acquittal the development is right back where it was in except with one fewer person who could be brought to court over it
