After successful appeal and hung jury on retrial, man is freed through plea deal in murder case

OAKLAND >> A man whose murder conviction was overturned on appeal last year has been freed from jail after accepting a plea deal with Alameda County prosecutors that credited him for the years he already had spent in custody and good behavior, court records show.

Anthony Paige, 35, pleaded no contest to manslaughter and formally was sentenced to seven years in state prison as part of the October plea agreement. He was released early thanks to good behavior credits, records show. His attorney told this newspaper Paige now “looks forward to putting this tragedy behind him.”

In 2018, Paige was tried and convicted of murdering 49-year-old Reginald Blackburn, who was shot and killed in Oakland in 2016. Last year, the conviction was overturned when an appeals court found Judge Don C. Clay had improperly prevented jurors from learning that Paige’s cousin — whom the defense blamed for killing Blackburn — had tried to give himself a false alibi for the time of the shooting.

Paige was retried last July, resulting in a hung jury and a mistrial. Jurors were split 7-5 in favor of guilt, according to attorneys familiar with the case.

Deputy Public Defender Bao Doan, who represented Paige, said the case was “riddled with injustice” that included “shaky” evidence, “tainted testimony” and police harassment of eyewitnesses, as well as Clay’s decision to keep the false alibi from the jury.

“Ultimately, five jurors voted not guilty, underscoring the weaknesses of the case against Anthony,” Doan said.

Blackburn was shot in the back Dec. 7, 2016, the day before his birthday, in the 1100 block of East 17th Street. He died seven days later at Highland Hospital.

Paige and Blackburn had gotten into a fight that night, after Paige hit Blackburn’s son earlier that day, investigators said. When Blackburn confronted Paige about the punch, the two got into a tussle, which ended with Blackburn being shot. The prosecution used this to refute the theory about Paige’s cousin, arguing that Paige’s cousin had “zero” motive to harm Blackburn and was simply trying to come up with a convenient scapegoat.

After his 2018 conviction, Paige was given a life sentence with no chance for parole until after 60 years.