OAKLAND — An Alameda County jury has acquitted an Oakland man of murder and attempted murder in a hectic 2022 shootout at a local gas station that left a bystander dead and a woman paralyzed with gunshot wounds.
Stavon Moore, 29, did not contest that he killed 64-year-old Rodney Davis, nor that he paralyzed 22-year-old Tyja Braswell in the shootout. But he argued that his actions were the direct result of Braswell reaching into her fanny pack to pull her pistol out and attempt to kill Moore, and that he only fired his gun as a last result.
Moore was convicted of a felony gun possession count, which carries a maximum of six years behind bars. When he’s sentenced for that he’ll almost certainly receive credit for the 18 months he has spent in jail awaiting trial.
The verdict, announced Monday, ended a two-week trial where nearly all of the relevant conduct was captured by surveillance footage. Moore took the stand in his own defense, expressing remorse for Davis’ death but insisting that he believed his own death was imminent if he had failed to act.
“Mr. Moore has expressed tremendous sympathy toward the loss of Mr. Davis,” Moore’s lawyer, Ernie Castillo, said in a phone interview. “He shed very sincere and real tears on the stand when he testified.”
The March 19, 2022 shooting at Royal Gas Station at 10151 International Blvd. resulted in murder charges against not just Moore but also Braswell, who was paralyzed in the shooting and remains in a wheelchair. Moore’s significant other, Tamia Foster, 24, was also hit with felony charges, but accepted a plea deal that gave her an opportunity for diversion instead of jail.
For Moore, a guilty verdict would have meant a life sentence with a miniscule chance for parole. Prosecutors painted him as a reckless aggressor who unloaded a pistol in a crowded gas station and didn’t care who he hit.
Video of the incident showed Braswell openly selling drugs within the camera’s vantage point, and it just so happened that Davis and Foster’s aunt, Mattie Flowers, were both customers of her. Flowers called her sister for a ride from the gas station, and Moore, Foster, and Foster’s mother answered the call. They were filling up their van when an argument started between Flowers and Moore, the video shows.
Flowers walked back to the van to retrieve a pistol after Braswell allegedly brandished a gun at her, then Moore came up and took the pistol from her. The video shows Braswell attempting to open her fanny pack when Moore begins shooting his gun. Castillo said Moore was trying to ease tensions before Braswell attempted to pull a gun on him.
Authorities said as Braswell returned fire, Moore ducked for cover, then fired several additional shots, killing Davis and paralyzing Braswell. As Braswell fell to the ground and screamed for help, onlookers ran up to her and stole baggies of drugs from her fanny pack, according to testimony. A few minutes later, a friend of hers arrived, grabbed her pistol off the ground and left. Police caught up with him and retrieved the gun.
Braswell and Moore were set to go to trial together, but both defense attorneys successfully petitioned for their cases to be severed. That means Braswell is likely to go before a jury soon, unless she and the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office strike a plea bargain.
Flowers, who was a defendant in a misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter case, died before trial, but Castillo had her prior testimony read into the record to bolster the defense case.
“Today’s verdict sends a message to lower income communities that self-defense laws apply to them as well,” Castillo said.