An Alameda County judge has thrown out the murder charge against 51-year-old Isaac Landry in a fatal Emeryville confrontation that left 43-year-old Robert Abeyta dead, easing the legal pressure on one man while leaving a troubled neighborhood and grieving family still searching for answers. Landry no longer faces a murder count after a preliminary hearing, but prosecutors note the case still involves multiple defendants and unresolved questions that continue to hang over the small Emeryville commercial strip.
According to The Mercury News, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Thomas Reardon ruled that prosecutors had not shown enough evidence to hold Landry on a murder charge at the preliminary hearing and dismissed that count. Court records cited by the outlet show Landry had already been released from custody under a 6 p.m. curfew, and that both Landry and co-defendant Armand Watson entered not-guilty pleas in late November. The same records list additional hearings for the two men scheduled in January.
The case traces back to an argument in early September outside a market on the 3800 block of San Pablo Avenue, where officers found Abeyta suffering from gunshot wounds, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Surveillance cameras and witness video captured parts of the clash, and UC Berkeley officers moved in to help detain people who tried to flee. For a street-level recap of that chaotic night, see Emeryville shooting claims one life…