Defendant in Pittsburg homicide gets 9 years

Family of victim protests sentence and why judge accepted the manslaughter plea deal

MARTINEZ >> After hearing from the prosecutor who voiced concerns about the difficulty of proving a murder charge at trial, a Contra Costa judge approved a manslaughter plea deal that will send a man to state prison for nine years, despite outcries from the victim’s family that the sentence is too light.

Taurus Miller, 45, has been in county jail since October 2018, when he was arrested and charged with murdering Jjuan Sanders, 38, outside of a bar in Pittsburg. On Friday, he accepted a plea for manslaughter, which was approved by Judge David Goldstein.

Before approving the plea deal, Gold stein asked deputy district attorney Mar y Blumberg why the proposed offer was being made. Blumberg said there was certain evidence — gun residue found on Sanders’ clothing, for example, despite no gun being found on him — that prosecutors were concerned could bolster claims of self- defense if Miller went to trial.

The prosecution’ s protestations did little to satisfy members of Sanders’ family, a dozen of whom spoke out against the nine-year sentence in court Friday.

“To think that this man could get away with just a few years, it’s so unfair to so many people,” said Gilda Eva ns, Sa nders’ grandmother. She later added, “Jjuan was close to his kids, they loved him … The void we have now that he’s gone, it’s unspeakable.”

Sa nder s’ fa m i ly described him as a caring father of five, whose youngest child, now 4 years old, still doesn’t comprehend that he was killed. Police say that Sanders and Miller had bad blood for years, and that they argued at a parking lot on 600 block of Cumberland Street before Miller fatally shot Sanders

The shooting happened around 2 a.m. on Oct. 13, 2018. According to several family members who spoke in court, Sanders challenged Miller to a fistfight, but instead, Miller produced a handgun.

“I just want answers, like what did my dad do to you?” Sanders’ 14-yearold daughter said in court Friday. “Did you think about his family? Did you think about his kids? … I’ve got to go see my dad at a gravestone. To me, ( Miller) should be doing life.”

Before approv ing the pl e a dea l, G old st ein thanked the family for their thoughts on what he called a “tough and awful situation.”

“I’m a judge and I’m not sure what justice is in these situations,” he said.

But after listening to Blumberg’s description of the evidence, Goldstein said he was ready to give the plea deal the green light. Had he not done so, the case would have been headed to trial on a murder charge. Goldstein noted that both Blumberg and the Contra Costa District Attorney’s head of homicide, Derek Butts, approved the deal.

“I don’t have 100 percent confidence what the answer is. What I do know is neither Ms. Blumberg nor Mr. Butts are soft touches when the comes to prosecuting murder cases,” Goldstein said. He later added he was approving the deal, “with some reluctance.”

Blumberg said the murder case was hampered by the fact that a car at the scene was shining its brights into the nearest security camera, meaning that the actual shooting was obscured. She said two different caliber bullets were found, including one shell casing that wasn’t compatible with Miller’s gun.

No gun was found on Sanders’ body but an individual walked up to Sanders after he’d been shot, Blumberg said, implying the defense could use that occurrence to bolster a claim that Sanders was armed. She said there were “arguments against all these” possible defenses, but acknowledged that a murder conviction would be difficult.

“With all these legal issues, and I take my emotions out of it, this is the of fer from our of f ice,” Blumberg said.

As the deal was being approved, Sanders’ family exited the courtroom one by one. Miller did not speak in court, other than to answer a series of yes or no questions from Goldstein to facilitate the deal.

Miller has garnered roughly 800 days of time already served in jail, which will count toward his nine- year sentence. With good behavior in prison, he could knock another 15 percent off of the term, allowing him to be released as early as 2026.