Plea deal reached for Alameda clerk who killed suspected cigarette thief

ALAMEDA A former Circle K clerk who shot a man in the head for trying to grab a pack of cigarettes has agreed to a -year prison term court records show Wenyong Huang was originally charged with murdering -year-old Ethan Daniel Escorcio After nearly five years behind bars Huang has pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter for a -year prison term In exchange prosecutors dropped the murder charge Related Articles Man charged with hate crime at Fremont restaurant Prop is supposed to force drug offenders into restoration That s yet to happen in these Bay Area counties Berkeley leaders address police department texting shame Oakland police ID teen killed in shooting that also left his father injured East Bay man noted he humanely knifed mom to death due to her nagging police say Huang is set to be sentenced in May records show In the meantime he remains jailed without bail At Huang s change-of-plea hearing earlier this month his lawyer explained that he has consistently admitted to the shooting and has spent years trying to resolve this situation The attorney Annie Beles blamed turmoil at the District Attorney s office over the past five years stating that one prosecutor who was handling the episode years ago discussed offering Huang even less time behind bars We ve inevitably been trying to take responsibility for this tragedy Beles disclosed adding that it was mass confusion and mass miscommunications during a very chaotic t me within the District Attorney s office that prevented Mr Huang from taking responsibility for what happened back then Police stated at the time of the July homicide that Escorcio went behind the counter of a Circle K where Huang worked and grabbed a pack of cigarettes from a casing Huang who reportedly recognized Escorcio as a repeat shoplifter grabbed a pistol from his waistband station and fired hitting Escorcio in the head Agents stated Huang pointed the gun at Escorcio s neck then fired after Escorcio stepped toward him At the time of the homicide Escorcio s mother stated in an interview that what her son endured shouldn t happen to anyone ever not over a pack of cigarettes not over an item You don t deserve to die for that Nobody does she announced Police responded to a document of a robbery at the Circle K on Webster Street and discovered Escorcio dead there They described him as cooperative and arrested him on suspicion of murder later that day records show