Legal proceedings advance for pair connected to 2018 murder in Vallejo

Costello Blackwell, 44, and Daniel A. Street, 34, face a March 9 prelim, and Blackwell also faces a Feb. 4 jury trial in a separate 2018 attempted murder case

A Solano County man and another from Contra Costa County, linked by investigators to the murder of an American Canyon man in Vallejo in early 2018, face a March preliminary hearing in the case.

The Solano man, Costello Blackwell, 44, also faces a February jury trial in a separate case of alleged attempted murder committed later the same year.

Blackwell appeared Thursday morning in Department 1 for a trial management conference and parole revocation proceedings in the separate case.

Judge Jeffrey C. Kauffman scheduled a trial management conference and a motion to exclude some testimony in the case at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 30; and a jury trial at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 4.

According to court records, Blackwell also faces two counts of vehicle theft. Kauffman scheduled a readiness and the setting of preliminary hearing on those charges, also at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 30, but it was unclear if they were connected to the attempted murder case.

In the separate case, Blackwell is charged with assault with a firearm besides attempted murder. He allegedly used a shotgun to shoot someone on Nov. 1 in Vallejo, and the Solano County District Attorney filed a complaint on Nov. 2. Three days later, he pleaded not guilty to all counts.

Court records indicate Blackwell was previously convicted of two felonies: wearing a mask or disguise to evade police, and assault with a deadly weapon on July 17, 1996.

If found guilty of the attempted murder charge, he faces 15 years to life in state prison.

In the murder case,

Blackwell was charged on May 22 last year as a codefendant with Daniel Anthony Street, 34, of Hercules.

Blackwell — not Street — was in court Thursday for a readiness conference in that case. Both men are set to appear at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 18 for the same proceeding. Their preliminary hearing will be at 1:30 p.m. March 9.

Blackwell is represented by Fairfield criminal defense attorney John Coffer and Street by Vallejo criminal defense attorney Terry Ray. Deputy District Attorney Bill Ainsworth leads the prosecution.

Blackwell, who remains in Solano County Jail, had not previously been connected to Street and the death of Daryl Huckaby on Feb. 10, 2018. Blackwell was arrested in jail last May on that charge, court records indicate.

Vallejo police investigators believe Street and Blackwell hatched a plan to confront Huckaby, 47, and eventually located him and pursued him as he drove his RV on Vallejo streets. Huckaby later was found dead inside the vehicle after it crashed near Sutter Solano Medical Center at Tuolumne Street and Hospital Drive.

Police arrested Street on March 21, 2018, after finding him in a vehicle behind the shuttered American Furniture Gallery building, in the 700 block of Admiral Callaghan Lane. He was later charged with murder.

Another man was detained at the time but was not arrested, but it was unclear if it was Blackwell.

If found guilty of firstdegree murder, Street and Blackwell face 25 years to life in state prison.