Closing arguments in the People v. Costello Blackwell wrapped just before noon on Friday, September 13, 2024, at the Solano County Law and Justice Center in Fairfield. Both prosecutor Bill Ainsworth and defense attorney Vincent Maher were left to reconcile the often inconsistent and conflicting accounts of what happened in and around Dan Foley Park in Vallejo on February 10, 2018, in their closing arguments.
One fact is universally agreed upon: Darry Huckaby, 47, was murdered with a single .380 round that entered through his upper left back and lodged in his right armpit. Huckaby was found by the Vallejo Police slumped over the steering wheel of his crashed Commander motorhome around 10:45 p.m. across the street from Sutter Solano Medical Center. Timmy Anderson, who was in the front passenger seat of the motorhome when Huckaby was shot, described the driver as “burgundy.”
Ainsworth’s theory of the case was that Costello “St. Louis” Blackwell was the shooter, citing the testimony of two witnesses who were in the vehicle with him. Both Teiquon “Youngster” Cortez and Klark “Henny” Hopkins described how Blackwell held the steering wheel with his left hand and held the pistol in his right hand, using the left as a rest. Ainsworth added that both Cortez and Hopkins “knew Blackwell well,” enhancing their credibility as witnesses.
“Birds of a feather flock together,” Ainsworth said. “That’s Mr. Blackwell’s friends.”
Ainsworth added Blackwell and Cortez met at Mule Creek State Prison, the all-SNY prison in Amador County that houses sex offenders, gang dropouts, snitches, and other inmates that cannot function on a General Population Yard.
However, Maher noted 20 inconsistencies about the shooting Cortez and Hopkins told the Vallejo Police and while on the witness stand. These included whether Dan Street visited Blackwell’s house before the shooting, whether Blackwell shot out the motorhome’s tire (he did not), and whether Blackwell uttered “Still Got It” after firing the fatal round.
“Just because two people saw things differently doesn’t mean they are lying,” Ainsworth countered, citing a jury instruction read by Judge Jeffrey Kauffman.
Maher took aim at Cortez’s November 1, 2018, interview with the Vallejo Police. The jury saw footage of Detective Jason Martinez providing Cortez with snacks and a soda, leaving the room, and Cortez loudly eating two bags of potato chips for close to 10 minutes.
“He ate those chips like he was a hostage,” Maher noted. He added it confirmed that Cortez was high on drugs during the interview. “I think Mr. Cortez is a disturbed individual.”
Maher noted that Dan Street did not testify in the trial, despite he and his wife Jen Street being at the center of the case.
“The best witness in this case never took the witness stand,” Maher told the jury.
Maher played for the jury a recent Stanton Detention Facility video phone call in which Dan Street revealed to a female that he took a deal for second-degree murder and a 15 year-to-Life sentence. Street said he would not have to testify and would have invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination if he had been called as a witness. Street told the female he had no intention of having a “snitch jacket” on him in prison.
Street added he wasn’t going to help Blackwell either. Maher alleged this suggested the District Attorney’s Office was giving Dan Street favorable treatment.
“They never explained why they did a U-Turn on Daniel Street,” Maher told the jury, perhaps quipping. “Maybe Mr. Street doesn’t want to testify because he doesn’t want anyone to know what he really did.”
Maher cited the number of inconsistent accounts of the shooting and the events that led up to the shooting.
“Everyone lied in this case,” Maher told the jury. “We know there’s been influence here.”
Maher referenced the testimony of Timmy Anderson, the person closest to Huckaby when he was shot, who testified very colorfully about how he heard the shot and took cover.
“This guy liquified his bowels when he hit the deck,” Maher said.
Both attorneys needled each other in their closing arguments. Maher recited an Ainsworth line about “not allowing the wool to be pulled over your eyes” and then added “y’all” to it, a jab at the prosecutor’s frequent use of the folksy term.
Ainsworth clapped back in rebuttal, noting that the jury should not consider the number of people seated at the defense table in determining a verdict. (There were four people at the defense table: Blackwell, Maher, a young female attorney, and a defense investigator. The prosecution table only had two: Ainsworth and case agent Jason Martinez).
Maher’s theory of the case is that someone other than Blackwell shot Huckaby.
“He [Costello Blackwell] did not do this crime,” Maher told the jury. He added he was not going through the “charade” of asking the jury to convict on a lesser charge such as manslaughter.
Maher trashed the Vallejo Police’s investigation, noting that 16 witnesses interviewed between February 2018 and April 2018 never mentioned Costello Blackwell. Maher noted that 2,406 days have passed since Huckaby’s murder and closing arguments. He argued the Vallejo Police had plenty of time to conduct additional DNA testing, gunshot residue testing, and follow-up investigation with certain witnesses, yet didn’t do so.
“They don’t know what happened,” Maher said.
In many ways Maher, who previously represented Corbin Easterling, left money on the table, as he could have thoroughly roasted the very troubled Vallejo Police Department for its investigation.
The jury began deliberations on the afternoon of September 13. The trial spanned 18 days and began with opening statements on August 13. More than 250 exhibits were entered into evidence.