‘I killed him,’ an East Bay man told police. Here’s why a jury acquitted him

Police missed credible suspect, defense argued

OAKLAND, Calif. — In terms of confessions, James Richards’ statement to police could not have been more succinct.

“I murdered that man.” “The one they tried to arrest me for,” Richards explained to a group of California Highway Patrol officers who had arrested him in August 2020. “I murdered him. I, James Richards, confess to the f—in’ murder for which they attempted to arrest me.”

A confession of that clarity is usually a guarantee of a guilty verdict or a no contest plea in a murder investigation. But that was not the case in Richards’ case. An Alameda County jury acquitted Richards of murder at the end of his trial this month, allowing him to walk free after being imprisoned for three years.

How did such a confession result in an acquittal? Richards’ attorney, William Welch, told jurors that his client was hallucinating and panicking when he made the statement, literally screaming for someone to call the cops as they arrested him and sputtering that he was being chased by unknown assailants. When CHP officers detained Richards, he demanded to be taken to the Oakland Police Department and decided that admitting to a crime he didn’t commit would be the simplest way to ensure he was taken there, according to Welch.

“That was the product of a paranoid delusion during the throes of a mental breakdown,” Welch said in a statement to this newspaper, adding that Richards was later evaluated psychiatrically. “James is a great and courageous man who chose to fight this case and refused to plead guilty to a crime he did not commit.”

Richards was a suspect in the death of 26-year-old Michael McNair on May 4, 2018, after his DNA was discovered on a discarded motorcycle jacket near the scene.McNair, an Alameda resident, was discovered dead alongside a fence in the 2800 block of Parker Avenue in East Oakland.

During police questioning, Richards denied any involvement and was later released.

But Richards’ confession, made nearly two years later after the CHP pulled him over for driving recklessly on the freeway, changed everything. He was taken into custody and charged with murder. He was then imprisoned in Dublin’s Santa Rita Jail without bail for the next three years and two months, until his acquittal.

The probable cause declaration used to justify the murder charge, written by Oakland police Detective Phong Tran, who is currently facing perjury and bribery charges for allegedly paying off a witness in another murder case, states that Richards was identified through “forensic evidence” and surveillance footage, and then details Richards’ confession. Welch stated that the surveillance footage only showed two men walking away from the area where McNair was shot, and that the jacket was discovered during a search of the area.

Welch argued at Richards’ preliminary hearing in July 2022 that the confession was made under duress, amid Richards’ confused desperation to get to a police station, where he thought he’d be safe at the time. Judge Andrew Steckler upheld the confession, noting that not even the CHP officer believed Richards at the time.

“I mean, if anything, the CHP officer didn’t believe it when he heard him say it.” According to a transcript of the hearing, Steckler stated, “He thought it was just a play to get to OPD, so I think it’s the opposite of trying to elicit an incriminating response.”

Welch argued at trial, in addition to disputing the confession’s veracity, that Oakland police had overlooked a lead that pointed in a different direction, when a woman told an Oakland investigator that her boyfriend had a motive to kill McNair over a drug dispute. Welch claims the woman knew what time McNair was shot and how many shots were fired.

“James’ case is a harrowing example of law enforcement and the DA’s office trying to secure a conviction of an innocent man instead of solving the crime and holding those responsible to account, and protecting the public,” Welch said in a press release. “It is little wonder that the public does not trust law enforcement and fears retaliation for cooperating.”

When asked for comment on the verdict, a spokesperson for Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price appeared to blame the previous administration, which ended roughly 10 months before Richards’ trial.

“The decision to charge Richards was made in 2020, and the decision to amend that decision was made in 2022,” spokesperson Patti Lee told this newspaper in an email. “All of this predates DA Price’s time in office.”