In closing arguments, attorneys spar over evidence in '17 fatal robbery case

In her rebuttal statement, Solano County Deputy District Attorney Mary Nguyen told jurors Armani Harper-Reed didn't shoot himself in the back in November 2017 in Suisun City and said it was necessary to take the testimony, “the good, the bad and the ugly,” of a key witness with a felony record to help prove her case.

On the other hand, in his closing argument, Alternate Public Defender Sean Swartz said the felony cases against his client, Derrick Keith Dogan Jr., 41, of Fairfield, whom he represents, and Alfie Broussard, also 41, of Elk Grove, each charged with fatally shooting Harper-Reed next to a Chevron gas station on Nov. 3, are built almost entirely on circumstantial evidence. He also questioned the DA's key witness's credibility and asserted that Broussard fired the fatal bullet that killed HarperReed.

In her closing argument, which began Tuesday and continued into Wednesday, criminal defense attorney Eileen Burke of San Anselmo, who represents Broussard, noted several times circumstantial evidence that suggested doubt about who fired the fatal shot — and she said it was Dogan — and also questioned the reliability of testimony by Arlina Brown, Harper-Reed's girlfriend at the time of the shooting and the prosecution's key witness.

The arguments and rebuttal in the six-week trial ended at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday and were followed by final jury instructions from Judge Jeffrey C. Kauffman, who ordered the 12-member panel to return at 10 a.m. Thursday to begin deliberations that will decide the legal fate of Dogan and Broussard.

If convicted of first-degree murder, the two men could face 25 years to life, plus more time for the robbery charge and an enhancement for use of a firearm.

At the outset Tuesday of her closing argument, her version of what the evidence showed, Nguyen reminded jurors they saw surveillance video of the cars driven to the Chevron station in the 1200 block of Anderson Drive, which shared a parking lot with a Popeyes restaurant: the white Chevrolet Impala driven by Brown, with HarperReed in the passenger seat, and the black Dodge Challenger driven by Broussard, with Dogan in the passenger seat.

Nguyen noted that the four met for the sale of Harper-Reed's marijuana during the evening of Nov. 3 after setting up the transaction in the previous days via text message and calls.

But, she said, friction arose, with everyone seated in the white Impala, when Harper-Reed, 21, changed the price of the marijuana, which was expected to cost $4,700.

It was then that Broussard, seated behind Brown, reportedly pulled out a gun and said, “You know what time it is,” time for for a robbery, said Nguyen, adding that it was Dogan whom Brown saw with a 9 mm Glock semi-automatic handgun, green in color, while in the car.

Recounting some of the alleged events that transpired afterward, when Harper-Reed, Broussard and Dogan got out of the Impala, with a signal shot fired allegedly fired by Broussard, it was Dogan who then shot HarperReed, who suffered a bullet wound in the upper left back and bled to death on a sidewalk next to the gas station. (The physician who conducted the autopsy, Dr. Arnold Josselson of Fairfield, said he extracted a 9 mm round from ArmaniReed's body.)

Harper-Reed was unarmed, since no firearm was found near the victim or in the Impala, said Nguyen, adding moments later that Broussard, allegedly aiding and abetting the killing, could be charged with felony murder.

She also noted that after his arrest on June 19, 2018, Dogan told Suisun City police investigators that he did not know Harper-Reed or Broussard. And Broussard changed the licence plates on the Challenger two months after the shooting, according to DMV records.

At the beginning of her final argument, Burke also said, “There's a lot of circumstantial evidence in this case,” and that if jurors can draw two conclusions about what the evidence shows, then they must select “the one that points to innocence.”

Chipping away at Nguyen's statements, Burke said Brown could not remember “95 percent of what happened” and did not see Broussard with a gun and was unsure if Harper-Reed had a gun before and during the botched and fatal transaction.

With her inconsistencies, Brown “showed contempt for the (legal) process,” argued Burke, citing Brown's past criminal record, including being on probation for a felony embezzlement conviction and her wearing an ankle monitor during her testimony last month.

She called Brown “evasive” and also said testimony from police investigators, including an officer who failed to perform a gunshot residue test on Harper-Reed, indicated “poor police work.”

Using a series of printed sheets of 3-by-4-feet sheets of paper, on which she laid out her case in print rather than project them on a video monitor, Burke said Broussard tried to defuse the anger that was generated by Harper-Reed's decision to change the price of the marijuana. He was the one who said, “Put the guns down,” “You don't want to do this,” and “Get back in the car.”

Burke also said the jurors could consider lesser included charges of seconddegree murder, and voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.

During his remarks, Swartz said Dogan “made no threats against anyone” and had not motive to commit a robbery. His client was not the shooter, as Burke claimed, and that HarperReed may have fired the first shot. Swartz also noted that Brown said Dogan was “not the shooter.”

Among her final remarks, Nguyen told the jurors that police investigations “are not perfect, but the question is whether all the elements are there.”

It was Dogan who fired the fatal shot, she repeated, adding at the close of her rebuttal, “But both are saying, `I didn't kill (HarperReed).' “

Throughout the two days of arguments, Dogan and Broussard sat largely expressionless at the defense table.

As previously reported, both Broussard and Dogan had guns, according to Brown's statements to Suisun City police officer Jose Martinez, who also confirmed that Brown said “the guy on the passenger side” of the rear seat, behind Harper-Reed, did not fire his weapon, a reference to Dogan.

Also, Brown told investigators, as she testified earlier in the trial, that Dogan drove the vehicle he and Broussard arrived in, a black Dodge Challenger, but it was Broussard who drove it after the gunfire.

Brown, according to Martinez, recalled that she heard an initial shot seemingly fired in the air, “and Armani was falling down” on the sidewalk adjacent to the Chevron parking lot.

Martinez also testified that at the suspects' arrest on June 19, 2018, he took DNA samples, essentially saliva samples, from Dogan and Broussard at the time. He also noted that recordings of jail phone calls by the two men were made.

Earlier in the trial, Dr.Josselson said HarperReed “basically bled to death” after a single bullet entered the upper left side of Harper-Reed's back, passed through an artery and “ended up in the front of his neck.”

Nguyen also called to the witness stand Mason Minemi, the supervising investigator for the Solano County District Attorney's Office, who said he was part of a search team sent to a Fairfield residence where Dogan reportedly lived. There, Minemi said he found a magazine for 9 mm Glock semi-automatic handgun in a shoebox. It was also revealed that investigators also found a handgun in Dogan's apartment. While on the witness stand during her testimony early in the trial, Brown acknowledged to Burke that she and Harper-Reed “believed they had been cheated” during the deal.

And were either Broussard or Dogan seen with a firearm in their possession? “No,” said Brown. But during her first day on the witness stand, Brown said that, after some time, when all were in the white Impala, Broussard got out of the car and had a gun pointed at HarperReed.

Then Brown heard a gunshot, then two more, but could not remember who fired the last two shots.

Broussard and Dogan drove off after the shooting, Harper-Reed fell to the ground, and she called 911, she said.

Dogan and Broussard have pleaded not guilty to the crimes. Dogan remains in the main Solano County Jail in Fairfield without bail, and Broussard in the Stanton Correctional Facility in Fairfield, also without bail.