Man takes plea deal for 2015 murder of 14-year-old boy

DUBLIN >> A man accused of killing a 14-year-old boy in 2015 has taken a plea deal that could put him behind bars for 50 years to life.

Ronald Higgins, 32, also known as Donald Higgins, is expected to be sentenced in November after taking a plea deal July 23 before Alameda County Superior Judge Michael Gaffey at the East County Hall of Justice in Dublin.

Higgins pleaded no contest to one count of first-degree murder of Davon Ellis, an honors student and standout athlete at Oakland Technical High School, according to court documents. Ellis was shot Feb. 28, 2015 as he was walking with some friends on the 3300 block of Brookdale Avenue in East Oakland.

Higgins also pleaded no contest to willful, deliberate and premeditated attempted murder and attempted murder of a peace officer, Hayward Officer Keith Mizuhara, on March 1, 2015.

He was originally charged with a total of 12 counts, including seven of attempted murder and shooting at an occupied vehicle and two of attempted murder of a peace officer. All other charges besides the three he pleaded to were dropped as part of the negotiated plea deal, according to a court transcript.

Judge Gaffey said during the July hearing that Higgins’ attorney, Miki Tal, indicated his client wanted to take advantage of the plea deal and avoid a trial.

Jack Ellis, a childhood friend of Higgins who is also a cousin of the slain victim, testified at a preliminary hearing in September 2017 that he saw Higgins just a few hours before the February 2015 shooting.

Ellis testified he saw Higgins parked in Ellis’ driveway with a gun on his lap, an extended clip attached. The apartment was just a few blocks away from the shooting scene on Brookdale Avenue.

Hours later, Ellis’ 13-year-old son told him there had been a shooting. Ellis testified he then called Higgins to check if everything was OK. Higgins called him back later and asked if he was mad at him, Ellis said.

“He called again at 11 p.m., said ‘I love ya bro,’ ” Ellis testified in 2017. “I said, ‘You OK? You need some money?’ ”

Higgins told Ellis he was waiting for a woman in a Mercedes at the apartment complex, Ellis testified. Witnesses told police they saw Higgins suddenly speed off in his white Infiniti. A neighbor testified she saw the woman he was waiting for drive off in the Mercedes moments after the shooting, and stop by the Infiniti down the road. She threw her hands up in the air when she got out and saw Davon Ellis’ body lying on the ground, then sped off.

Davon Ellis’ friend, who was 16 at the time of the shooting, also testified at the 2017 hearing that he, Davon and three other friends were walking home from a store when a man inside a white Infiniti pulled up and asked if they knew someone named Tim. The boys said they didn’t and he suddenly began shooting.

The boys started running away, but turned around when they realized Davon had been shot and was lying on the ground, with blood on his shirt.

Higgins got into a shootout with Hayward officers on the 300 block of D Street in Hayward early the next morning after they tried to stop the vehicle he was in to question him about another shooting that happened about 9:30 p.m. Feb. 28 at Mission Boulevard and Harder Road in Hayward.

Five people were inside a vehicle at Mission and Harder that Higgins shot at, though no one was injured. For that shooting Higgins was charged with attempted murder.

Higgins was eventually arrested at a relative’s house later that day in Hayward.

He is expected to be sentenced Nov. 15 in Judge Gaffey’s Dublin courtroom.