OAKLAND — An Oakland man has accepted a plea deal and a six-year prison term in connection with a 2020 shooting outside of a local store, court records show.
Dante Curley, 24, pleaded no contest to manslaughter in the shooting death of 19-year-old Quinton Williams III. He was formally sentenced to six years at a May court hearing and transferred to North Kern State Prison on June 12, records show.
On Aug. 1, 2020, Curley fired at a moving vehicle containing Williams and two of his friends, fatally striking Williams. But the altercation started inside the Queen of Sheba Market on 35th Avenue in Oakland, where Williams and one friend were involved in a confrontation. Video surveillance later confirmed the victims were armed inside the convenience store, according to police testimony.
Curley’s brother, Marquise Williams, later told police that Curley fired because they believed someone inside the vehicle was going to start shooting at them based on the interaction inside the store. Williams also called the whole thing “goofy gang s—” but denied they were gang members, according to police testimony.
Williams was also originally charged with murder but is currently under a conservatorship due to a mental illness. The case against him has been suspended, records show.
Kellin Cooper, who represented Curley, said they were prepared to argue that it was “complete self-defense” at trial but didn’t want to risk a life sentence. Cooper noted that Curley only has about two years left to serve, based on the nearly four years he has spent behind bars since his arrest in September 2020.
“(Curley) is a super nice young man,” Cooper said, adding that the plea deal was a “fairly easy decision even though we believe and he believes he acted in 100 percent self-defense.”
At Curley’s preliminary hearing last year, police testified the gun Curley used was registered to Marquise Williams and the two were seen attempting to hide it near the store. A homicide detective testified that Curley told Quinton Williams III and the other man inside the store that he didn’t want any problems.
Judge Mark McCannon said at the nearing that getting a guilty verdict at trial “might be a problem” and noted no one involved appeared totally innocent. He said there was enough evidence to move the case past a preliminary hearing, which uses a probable cause standard — far below what jurors are given in criminal trials.
“It’s not a clean case,” McCannon said.
