OAKLAND — An Alameda County judge on Thursday tossed murder and kidnapping charges against a woman accused of helping to kill an Oakland man whose body was later found bound, gagged and strangled with an apparent dog leash.
The ruling Thursday by Judge Clifford Blakely marked the latest twist in the case against Mashonna Yvonne Whittle, whose name was unexpectedly added two months ago to the murder case against her husband and two other men in the killing 37-year-old Benjamin Hemmann.
Hemmann’s body was found tied up with duct tape in September 2021 off Redwood Road in Castro Valley in a case that investigators claimed to crack using surveillance footage from an AC Transit bus, the presence of a Baby Yoda doll and Whittle’s own self-proclaimed “great hearing.”
In issuing his ruling, Blakely said that evidence simply didn’t exist to tie her to the slaying. Rather, he held her to answer at trial on lesser felony charges of first-degree burglary and identity theft, amid allegations she helped pilfer Hemmann’s house and spend his money after his death.
“Intent to get money is different than intent to kill,” said Blakely, adding that “I just don’t see” evidence Whittle helped plan and carry out the killing.
The evidentiary standard for a preliminary hearing is lower than at trial, and it requires that prosecutors only show “probable cause” a crime happened.
The judge on Thursday said two other defendants in the killing — Brian Wu and Whittle’s husband, Kevin Woodruff — will stand trial on a slew of felony charges, including murder, kidnapping, first-degree burglary and identity theft. Another man, Steven Hanna, aka Richardo Onteveros, also is bound for trial on murder and other felony charges.
Authorities alleged that the men took Hemmann to Skyline Boulevard in Oakland and tied him up before Hanna drove him to Redwood Road, strangled him and disposed of his body. Investigators later discovered video footage from an AC Transit bus that allegedly captured a Toyota Tacoma on the road where Hemmann’s body was found — one ornamented with a small Baby Yoda doll.
The doll was found months later in a truck Hanna allegedly drove during a police chase. Hanna then told investigators he acted entirely alone, and that he had killed Hemmann “how you kill any (expletive) dog,” a detective said at a previous evidentiary hearing.
Authorities suspect Whittle was in the same vehicle as some of her co-defendants the day that Hemmann was bound and gagged. She previously told detectives that she fell asleep in the vehicle and didn’t see anything. Rather, she heard duct tape ripping and Hemmann whimpering, authorities said.
She later recanted that statement, blaming it on her mental illness and “intimidation” by investigators.
Prosecutor Nathan Feldman’s decision to charge Whittle in November drew vehement protests from the other defendants’ attorneys, who claimed she was merely being prosecuted for not cooperating with investigators. Their criticisms continued Thursday ahead of Blakely’s ruling.
“This prosecution is an abomination,” said Wu’s attorney, Annie Beles. “It is a mockery of justice.”