Gang shooting victim remembered as loving man at killer's sentencing

He had “an indescribably magnetic smile.” He loved “unapologetically.” He was a loving son, father and uncle to many.

Those descriptions of Coy Lacy Jr., 30, of Vallejo, were among many remembrances by family members and friends who offered victim-impact statements during the formal sentencing Thursday afternoon of a Vallejo gang member charged with his Jan. 13, 2018, killing while he was walking the family dog.

Desean Lamar Johnson, 26, tended to look straight ahead throughout the proceeding, no outward emotion visible, as six speakers delivered their prepared remarks in Department 11 in the Justice Center in Fairfield.

Johnson, who in late February struck a plea deal of voluntary manslaughter in exchange for an 18-year sentence, was the last of five Vallejo gang members who were either convicted at trial or struck plea deals for the killings of three men several years ago in Vallejo.

A member of the 200 Westwood gang, which takes its name from a neighborhood street, Johnson also pleaded to the personal use of a firearm, assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury and a gang enhancement, Deputy District Attorney Eric Charm, who prosecuted all the cases, confirmed earlier.

Angela Lacy, Coy Lacy's sister, was first to speak while seated at the prosecutor's table. She spoke on behalf of several family members as Judge William J. Pendergast looked on attentively.

She said the day her brother was killed by Johnson and two others convicted of the shooting — Nickolas James Howland, 24, and Steven Tezel Sanderson, 21 — turned the family's world “upside down” and was “an unbearable loss.”

“No words of comfort” could assuage the grief suffered by Coy's father, who died six months afterward, said Angela Lacy, adding, “All we are left with is pain and memories.”

Stepsister Jessica Carter remembered Coy Lacy's “indescribably magnetic smile” and said he was a man who “loved unapologetically,” according to the prepared statement.

“January 2018 changed the trajectory of so many lives,” she added.

Angela Lacy, the oldest family sibling, said her brother was unarmed at the time of the shooting and called him “an innocent victim.”

“I never expected to bury my baby brother,” she added, then paused, choking up. “I remember a boy growing up,” she continued, and recalled his smile, laughter “and so much more.”

Her brother was the father of two young boys, “a loyal friend” and “a contributing member of society,” someone “who can never be replaced,” she said.

Reading from a prepared statement by Coy Lacy's fiance, a family member said she remembered her husband-to-be as “the greatest person with the biggest heart,” but his death left her “a broken woman.”

“My life was shattered,” she said. “I continue to have sleeping problems. My heart is forever broken. I can no longer live an ordinary life.”

Reading a statement from Lacy's younger brother, Jessica Howard-Baxter said the killing “took a toll on the entire family” and “not one day goes by when someone doesn't mention his name.”

“Why did you choose to take his life?” the brother wondered.

Last to speak was Jeanette Howard Jones, Lacy's mother, who recalled that her son came home to walk the dog. Minutes and then hours passed and he did not return home, she remembered.

And then the horrible news came.

Jones noted it had been four years, three months and 18 days “since the defendant made a choice.”

“You could have stopped” the crime, she added, without casting a glance to her left toward Tim A. Pori, Johnson's defense attorney, and Johnson.

She added that, during some court proceedings, she watched the videos of her son being shot to death.

“It's hard to accept he's no longer here,” said Jones. “Now that Coy's no longer here, who's going to encourage his (two) sons?”

“What would justice be for the defendant?” she asked. “Eighteen years will never be enough. God will be the final judge.”

At proceeding's end, Pendergast ordered Johnson to pay $7,500 in restitution to the state and $7,489.16 to Jones for funeral expenses.

Johnson's plea came well more than three years after a 2018 indictment and plea deals struck by other gang members and the conviction at trial of one, Tiquon Ramon Hicks, 25, sentenced March 5, 2020, to more than 27 years in state prison for the second-degree murder of Demario Williams and other charges. He was represented by criminal defense attorney D. Glenn Brown.

Howland and Sanderson also were charged with Williams' killing.

As part of plea deal negotiated last year, Pendergast on Jan. 25 sentenced Sanderson to 24 years and four months in state prison for voluntary manslaughter in connection to the two killings. He was represented by now-retired attorney John Coffer.

Sanderson's plea came one day after Howland, who, on Oct. 28, pleaded no contest to his involvement in the same two killings, and was sentenced Dec. 8 to 18 years and four months in prison as part of a plea deal. He was represented by criminal defense attorney Curtis Boyd.

Gang member Damaria Tijaraye Haskins, 24, pleaded to one count of voluntary manslaughter Nov. 5. He was sentenced to 10 years in state prison Feb. 14.

During the early November appearance, Haskins changed his not-guilty plea for the 2017 fatal shooting of Erik Green and the attempted murder of Erik's brother, Eian, in Vallejo.

Haskins, indicted in November 2018 by a Solano County grand jury for the murder and the attempted murder, also pleaded to a gun enhancement and two counts of assault with a firearm. He was represented by criminal defense attorney Carol Long.