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May 9, 2008 8:42 pm US/Pacific
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Man Gets Probation In Death Of Berkeley Student
BERKELEY (BCN) ―
A former Berkeley High School student was sentenced Friday to five years' probation for being an accessory to the shooting death of his friend Meleia Willis-Starbuck near the University of California, Berkeley campus nearly three years ago.
Christopher Wilson, 22, initially was charged with murder in connection with the death of Willis-Starbuck, 19, near the intersection of College Avenue and Dwight Way in Berkeley about 2 a.m. on July 17, 2005, after she and several female friends got into a confrontation with a group of university football players.
But two years ago prosecutors allowed Wilson to plead no contest to being an accessory to the crime in return for his testimony against Christopher Hollis, a 24-year-old Hayward man who attended Berkeley High School with Wilson and Willis-Starbuck and was friends with both.
Hollis was convicted last week of voluntary manslaughter and several other charges.
Willis-Starbuck called Hollis for help during the confrontation, which began after the football players tried to pick up the group of women and then insulted the women after their advances were rebuffed.
Hollis's attorney, Greg Syren, admitted that Hollis fired at least several shots from a .30-caliber gun toward a crowd of people and that one of the bullets killed Willis-Starbuck, who had returned to Berkeley to take a summer job providing social and health services to low-income women after completing her freshman year at Dartmouth College.
Syren said Willis-Starbuck, who was described by Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates as "a wonderful hero" who "tried to make this a better world," told Hollis to bring his gun.
Prosecutor Elgin Lowe told jurors in his closing argument last month that they should convict Hollis of either first- or second-degree murder because by firing four or five shots he acted with conscious disregard for human life and he had time to reflect on his actions before aiming again and pulling the trigger for his final shots.
But Syren said Hollis should only be convicted of voluntary manslaughter because he "had no intent to kill anyone" and was only trying to disperse the crowd of people who were gathered on the street that morning.
Eight jurors in Hollis' trial thought he should be convicted of second-degree murder but four thought he should only be convicted of manslaughter so the panel compromised on manslaughter.
Hollis will face a state prison term of between six and 21 years when he's sentenced on July 14 by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Vernon Nakahara, the same judge who sentenced Wilson on Friday.
In testimony at a preliminary hearing two years ago and at Hollis' trial last month, Wilson said he and Hollis were at a party near the UC Berkeley campus when Willis-Starbuck phoned them to ask for help.
Wilson said he drove Hollis to a parking lot near Willis-Starbuck's apartment and then Hollis got out of the car and fired the shots.
He said he then drove Hollis from the scene after the shooting.
Wilson said he had no idea that Hollis had a bun that night but he
admitted that he had seen Hollis with a gun on several other occasions, including just two weeks before the shooting.
After Wilson was sentenced Friday, his attorney, Elizabeth Grossman, said he "has a great deal of sorrow and remorse for the intersection of his life with this tragedy."
Grossman said, "His life has been changed forever and he recognizes the impact he has had on the community."
Grossman said Wilson "is committed to making his life one that is dedicated to community service."
She said Wilson, who has been free on bail since July 27, 2005, now lives on the East Coast and works for a school there.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)