Murder conviction upheld in ‘Sunny Day’ cases

Ware was sentenced to 60 years to life after pleading no contest in 2018 to first-degree murder and attempted murder.

He and two co-defendants followed rival gang members along Highway 101 in Belmont and fired shots at their vehicle in 2012, striking two victims.

Lamont Coleman, a confidential informant, was shot and killed in 2013 after providing information to police about where Ware kept a gun in his residence, the state court said.

Jail calls and texts between Ware and other gang members established they conspired to murder Coleman, the state court said.

Sunny Day prosecutions involved cases from shootings in 2012-2013 involving the Sac Street, DaVill and Taliban gangs in East Palo Alto.

A gang member said, “I like these cold nights, sunny days” — the reference to nights was Coleman dying and “sunny days” meant the future with Coleman dead, according to courtroom testimony.

In a separate case, the state appellate court on Monday upheld the felony molestation and lewd act convictions of John Paul Graves, arrested after a 15-year-old girl told police he grabbed her at a clothing store in a San Mateo mall.

Graves, 34, who lived in San Bruno when committing the crimes, contended the jury in his San Mateo County Superior Court trial erroneously instructed the jury that the testimony of a single witness could convict him.

Graves also said the jury was wrongly told that the 15-year-old girl’s report of the assault to her friend could be used to establish that the assault occurred.

The girl and her friend went to the mall on May 20, 2016, when Graves came up behind the girl, squeezed her buttock and then entered the store’s changing room, removed his shirt, stepped out bare-chested and made eye contact with the girl, the state court said.

She and her friend told store employees what happened and the 15-year-old girl identified Graves as the man who grabbed him. Graves had previous convictions for annoying or molesting minors as well as sexual battery of minors, the state court said.

He was sentenced to five years in prison for the 2016 crimes at the mall.

Graves did not argue that no touching occurred but claimed that any contact was inadvertent when moving past the girl in the store aisle, the state court said.

San Mateo County Superior Court ruled that Graves’ prior convictions for annoying or molesting minors and for sexual battery of minors in San Mateo, San Francisco and Santa Clara counties were admissible.

ryan@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 106