A brutal 2017 murder case that stemmed from a robbery of a photographer who was shooting pictures of the under-construction Salesforce Tower has finally come to a close, with the two suspects convicted more than seven years later.
It is not entirely clear why the wheels of justice turned quite so slowly in this case — which was fairly cut and dry, with surveillance video of the murder and all. 71-year-old Edward French, an established location scout for the film industry, was killed and robbed of his camera bag while shooting photos on Twin Peaks on the morning of Sunday, July 16, 2017.
Then-20-year-old SF resident Fantasy Decuir and then-19-year-old Lamonte Mims were arrested for the fatal shooting about two weeks after it occurred, following another armed robbery they committed at St. Mary's Cathedral Square. Decuir was believed to have been shooter.
A jury found both Decuir and Mims guilty on Thursday, more than seven years after the crime.
"It's on film, there was no question that they murdered him," Says the victim's sister, Lorrie French, speaking to ABC 7. "For it to take seven years of my life and all his friends' and family's lives to finally get justice... I don't know something is wrong with the system, something is very wrong with the system."
Decuir and Mims were convicted last year of armed robbery, but a jury deadlocked on the first-degree murder charge, leading to this second trial. The jury in the first trial heard defense testimony that Decuir was in a "sickle cell crisis" and experiencing opiate withdrawal at the time of the shooting, and thefore acted "without conscious thought" when pulling the trigger. Attorneys also argued that she had a low IQ and had a "lack of adaptive functioning."
Angering the victim's family and the public at the time was the revelation, after the pair's arrest, that Mims was on pretrial diversion stemming from a gun charge and parole violation earlier in July, and had recently gotten out of jail when French was killed.
After the conclusion of the first trial last year, French's partner, Brian Higginbotham, paid tribute to French, as reported by SF Public Safety News. "Ed was amazing. He was born and raised here in San Francisco. He was ‘Mr. San Francisco,’ the nicest person. He loved the city he took pictures for a living that showed how beautiful San Francisco is, and filmed commercials, and to be up there on that Sunday morning, for this to happen and for there to be no consequences so far – I could almost start crying here. We’ll get justice."
Following this latest trial and verdict, DA Brooke Jenkins put out a statement saying, "The jury's verdict holds Ms. Decuir and Mr. Mims accountable for the cold-blooded murder of an elder in our community doing what he loved to do the morning he was killed in 2017."
Jenkins added, "I would like to thank the friends and family of the victim for their trust and faith in my office and the criminal justice system to deliver justice in this case. While this family had to wait far too long, I am relieved that the system was able to deliver justice to them."
Mims and Decuir will be sentenced in December.
Previously: Man Killed At Twin Peaks Lookout Sunday Was Well Known Film Location Manager
