Man gets life without parole in Oakland kidnapping, murder

OAKLAND >> An Oakland man convicted of a brutal kidnapping, beating and murder that was the culmination of a feud between him and his victim was sent to prison for life with no possibility of parole, though he maintained his innocence at his December sentencing hearing.

James Scott, 28, was transferred from Santa Rita Jail to North Kern State Prison on March 9, according to prison records. He was convicted of kidnapping and murder in the death of 24-year-old Reynaldo Vazquez, who was buying cigarettes on Sept. 30, 2015, when a group of people forced him into the trunk of a car, beat him, then shot him in the head.

Prosecutors named Scott as the shooter and 26-yearold Alejandro Garcia as a major accomplice. The other four took plea deals in exchange for cooperation at Garcia and Scott’s trial.

At Scott’s sentencing hearing last December, he heard a written statement by Vazquez’s mother, Angelica Palacios, who described him as a loving father and a “jokester” who loved cooking “and to be hospitable with everyone.” She described the day that police showed up at her house to inform her that Vazquez had been killed; deputy district attorney Stacie Pettigrew read the note into the record.

“From that moment I felt that my life and that of my family was ripped into pieces, like when you rip a piece of paper,” Palacios wrote. “And even though five years have passed, we feel as if it happened yesterday, and during this whole time we have been learning to live with this pain and the emotions that this bitter experience has left us with.”

Palacios added that her religion gives her faith she’ll see her son again one day.

Vazquez’s sister said in court that he was “the greatest, most loving person full of life” and that “I am now a broken person who has lost every sense of normality.”

“Nothing is the same anymore,” she added.

On the night of the murder, some of the men spotted Vazquez heading out to a corner shop on 38th Avenue and International Boulevard. They surrounded him, and Scott pointed a gun to the back of his head while another man went through his pockets, according to prosecution witnesses.

The kidnappers then walked Vazquez at gunpoint to “the shop,” a known marijuana grow house on 39th Avenue. Once inside the shop, Vazquez was brutally beaten, pistol-whipped multiple times by Scott and another man, before being shot, prosecutors said at trial. The alleged motive had to do with a dispute involving a gun transaction, and a prior shooting that Garcia and others blamed on Vazquez’s friends.

As police closed in on the group, Scott hurriedly booked a flight to Las Vegas, Pettigrew wrote in court records.

During Scott’s trial, his attorney argued Scott was being used as a scapegoat by the real killers, who received plea deals for pointing the finger at him.

At his sentencing, Scott spoke at length, arguing that he had not received a fair trial and that Pettigrew tried to “mislead the jury.” He repeated the phrases “evidence newly discovered” and “newly discovered evidence” numerous times throughout his statement. He also said he’d filed a motion for a new trial but that it was “denied and sealed.”

“The prosecutor allowed what she knew to be knowing and willfully perjured (sic), inaccurate, and misleading testimony,” Scott said.

Garcia was also convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 years to life, court records show.