November jury trial vacated for pair charged with fatal robbery
A November jury trial date has been vacated and rescheduled for early next year for two Northern California men charged with the November 2017 robbery and murder of a 21-yearold man at a Suisun City gas station in what investigators believe was a marijuana deal that went tragically wrong.
Previously scheduled to face a jury on Sept. 8 and then on Nov. 30, Derrick Keith Dogan Jr., 39, of Fairfield, and Alfie Broussard, 40, of Elk Grove, were scheduled to appear Wednesday in Department 1 for a trial management conference.
But court records show that Judge Jeffrey C. Kauffman has set their new trial date for 9 a.m. Jan. 12 in the Justice Center in Fairfield. However, the defendants first return for a trial readiness conference at 9 a.m. Dec. 14 and a trial management conference at 9 a.m. Jan. 4.
After a November 2019 preliminary hearing, Kauffman described the two men as “major participants” in a first-degree murder who “showed a reckless disregard for human life,” echoing statements made shortly before by Deputy District Attorney Melainee Collins, who leads the prosecution.
If convicted of the charges at trial, the pair could face 25 years to life, plus more time for the robbery charge and an enhancement for use of a firearm.
Dogan and Broussard have remained in Solano County Jail without bail since their arrests on June 19, 2018. They are accused of shooting and killing Armani
Harper-Reed on Nov. 3, 2017, in the parking lot of a Chevron gas station in the 2100 block of Anderson Drive.
Sean Swartz, a deputy public defender in the Alternate Public Defender’s Office, represents Dogan. Eileen Burke, a criminal defense attorney from San Anselmo, represents Broussard.
During the four-day preliminary hearing, cellphone data and a tattoo were among key pieces of evidence.
In her final statements, Collins argued for a finding of first-degree murder and robbery with the firearm enhancement, saying both were major participants in the alleged crime. She noted that text messages and cellphone tower records indicated the two men arranged for the marijuana sale on Nov. 3, information that included the amount of the drug, two to three pounds, and its cost, about $1,500.
Collins asserted the two men had planned a robbery in advance — “From the get-go,” she said — and later described how the defendants and Harper-Reed were positioned outside their vehicles at the moment several shots were fired.
Dogan fired a warning shot, she said, which was followed by two more shots allegedly by Broussard, one of which is believed to have entered HarperReed’s back and pierced an artery, causing internal bleeding and his death.
Additionally, crime scene investigators found Dogan’s DNA inside the vehicle Harper-Reed drove to the gas station, a white Chevrolet Impala.
“This was a planned robbery,” Collins reiterated, adding that the two defendants showed “a reckless disregard for human life.”
In rebuttal, Swartz countered there was no evidence “that a planned robbery was going to take place” and insufficient evidence to indicate that Dogan showed a reckless disregard for human life.
Among her final statements, Burke asserted that there was no evidence to ascertain who fired the fatal bullet that killed Harper-Reed. Additionally, she said there was “substantial evidence” the victim was armed, suggesting self-defense.
The tipping point in the hearing appeared to come when a Suisun City police detective at the time offered cellphone and cell tower data, among other things, a geolocation that placed Dogan and Broussard in the gas station area and roughly at the time of the crime.
A police investigator testified that Harper-Reed’s girlfriend, who was with the victim when he was shot and killed, told him the suspects were “two big Black guys, heavy-set.” At the time of the preliminary hearing, Dogan and Broussard appeared to be large men, with Broussard at 6 feet 1 inch tall, weighing 235 pounds; and Dogan at 5 feet 8 inches and 240 pounds, according to a police report.
After speaking with the girlfriend, the investigator sought out surveillance camera video at the gas station and at a nearby Popeyes restaurant, seeing evidence of the suspects’ vehicle, a black Dodge Challenger, with fog lights and headlights on, pull into the station and park near Harper-Reed’s Impala.