Prelim hearing date set for pair charged with pawn shop robbery

A Solano County Superior Court judge set an October preliminary hearing date for two men accused in a deadly 2016 Vallejo pawn shop robbery that ended in the store owner’s gunshot slaying, the wounding of an employee and the death of the store’s dog.

Amonie Azoun Andre Summerise, 26, of Vallejo, and Kashius Brazeal-Nelson, 23, a state prison inmate formerly of Vallejo, were scheduled to appear March 19 to learn of their hearing date in Department 2, and Judge Daniel Healy set it for 8:30 am. Oct. 25 in the Justice Building in Vallejo. The judge also set another readiness conference in the case for 8:30 a.m. June 4.

During the past year, amid the pandemic, Solano County courts have reduced court operations and rescheduled proceedings, as necessary, in accord with county, state, and state Supreme Court public health directives, which may account for delays in the case.

As the case has wound its way through the courts, proceedings against a suspected third person originally charged, Elijah Elliott Summerise, 23, brother of Amonie, were dismissed Sept. 11, 2019, court records indicate.

Brazeal-Nelson and the elder Summerise remain in Solano County Jail without bail.

Deputy District Attorney Bruce Flynn leads the prosecution of the case, which falls under the special circumstances category because the killing was committed during a robbery, a crime caught on video surveillance. The two defendants face the death penalty or life without the possibility of parole, if convicted at trial. It is still unclear if Flynn will pursue the death penalty.

After proceedings in October 2019, the defense lawyers for the elder Summerise, Robert Boyle and Sean Swartz, deputy alternate public defenders, confirmed that “the death penalty is still on the table.” Because the charges make it a potential death penalty case, they were assigned to represent Summerise.

Vallejo criminal defense attorney Dustin M. Gordon represents Brazeal-Nelson, who has been transferred from Calipatria State Prison, where he is serving time for a prior felony conviction.

Summerise was arraigned earlier in Department 4 in Fairfield and pleaded not guilty to the charges and special allegations.

Despite Swartz’s claim about the status of the allegations against Amonie Summerise, court records indicate that, besides first-degree murder and attempted murder, the two defendants face three counts of second-degree robbery and one count of unlawful firearm activity. The elder Summerise also is accused of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Additionally, Brazeal-Nelson is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, stemming from a prior conviction in Santa Clara County, and a charge of killing the store’s dog.

Vallejo police records indicate officers responded at about 3:10 p.m. Dec. 20, 2016, to reports of a possible robbery in progress at the Pawn Advantage Store, at 2581 Springs Road.

Store owner Timothy Pult, 49, of San Anselmo, and shop employee Josh Poole, of Fairfax, were found inside, both suffering from gunshot wounds. Pult’s dog, Copper, a Chesapeake Bay retriever, was found shot to death near the store entrance.

Police originally released a surveillance video of the robbery in January 2017 in an effort to identify the suspects. In July, they released 24 seconds of footage that showed two men enter the shop, their faces covered, guns in their hands.

The publicly available footage doesn’t show the shootings, but it shows the suspects quickly leaving the store, with one of them turning back and pointing his weapon at the dog before the video ends.

Pult was pronounced dead at the scene while Poole, who uses a wheelchair, was transported to a local trauma center. Poole, 45 at the time, survived but, for a time, continued to receive medical treatment for his wounds.

The Summerises were taken into custody in Vallejo on July 12, 2017. Brazeal-Nelson was arrested July 16 at the Imperial County state prison, where he is currently serving a sentence for a Yolo County robbery.

Boyle previously said the death penalty may still apply in the case, even though Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019 issued an executive order suspending capital punishment in California.