‘I really do apologize’: Oakland resident gets 12 years for killing man in 2019 bar shooting
The family of 42-year-old Cassius Stroman spoke out against the deal, pointing out the defendant will end up serving one year for every shot he fired.
OAKLAND — A city resident who had been charged with killing one man and wounding another in a 2019 shooting outside a bar in Old Oakland has been sentenced to 12 years in state prison through a plea deal, court records show.
Before he was sentenced, 26-year-old Deontre Brown penned a letter saying “I really do apologize” to family members of the man he killed, who decried the plea agreement as too lenient. Brown pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in exchange for the prison sentence, and prosecutors dropped murder and assault charges against him. He was formally sentenced on May 5.
The victim, 42-year-old Cassius Stroman, of San Francisco, was shot and killed around 7:45 p.m. on March 10, 2019 in a parking lot in the 800 block of Washington Street, near the Liege Spirits Lounge. Witnesses testified that Stroman got into an altercation with several other patrons at the bar, after he asked a woman for her phone number and was rebuffed.
Both prosecutors and the defense attorney say Stroman — who was unarmed — was heard making a derogatory comment but then walked away from the confrontation. A woman then took a swing at him and Stroman allegedly swung back at her in self-defense. Both punches missed.
That’s when authorities say Brown — who had been in the Liege Spirits Lounge but hadn’t interacted with Stroman until that point — pulled out a pistol and opened fire, fatally striking Stroman and wounding a 37-year-old bystander. Brown fled the area and later, the state. He was arrested days later in Nevada.
Deputy District Attorney Nick Homer, while noting Stroman’s family opposed the deal, said the 12-year term was just, given the witness accounts of the shooting that prosecutors learned of during the preliminary hearing. He also noted Brown experienced “psychological trauma caused by witnessing horrific domestic violence in his family home,” which he called a mitigating factor.
Stroman’s father, Howard Stroman Sr., wrote a letter to Judge Jacob Morrison saying he “seriously disagrees” with the sentence and added that if not for Brown, everyone would have gotten home safe that night.
“I wonder if it’s possible for you to imagine how you would feel if my son, the victim, was your son or relative, brutally murdered with an unlawfully concealed handgun and shot eight times for good measure, resulting in a 12-year sentence for the offender,” his letter says. “One year for each shot that went into my son’s body, plus four years’ time served.”
In a handwritten letter to the court, Brown said he feels terrible for causing this “unforgettable tragedy” and that he hopes to become an “honorable and dedicated member of society.”
“I understand that it may take a long while until you even think of the possibility of forgiveness but all that I can ask is that maybe you someday see me for the honest, remorseful, loving, real man that stands before you today,” Brown wrote.