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5.18.2010

two men plead not guilty in sucker punch beating death

Yesterday, Lavonte Drummer and Dominic Davis pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the fatal beating of 59-year-old Tian Sheng Yu last month in downtown Oakland: 2 plead not guilty in Oakland fatal beating.

The two men have both been charged with murder in connection with what authorities called a random, unprovoked attack on Jin Cheng Yu, 27, last month and the subsequent fatal beating of his father.
Prosecutors say Drummer and Davis were drinking rum, were upset about their lives and were looking for someone to punch shortly before they attacked the Yus on April 16 as father and son were on their way to shop for coins at a jewelry store. Prosecutors based that account on statements they say Drummer and Davis made to police.

Authorities say the son was sucker punched first as the elder Yu was parking his car on Broadway. When Tian Sheng Yu approached the two men near the Fox Theater on Telegraph Avenue and, in Mandarin, demanded an explanation for the attack, the assailants turned on him, police say.

Drummer told investigators that "he had anger and frustration over his life and planned on hitting someone," police wrote in a statement that outlined grounds for the arrests.
So the two were apparently "upset about their lives." That is just about the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Excuse me for being insensitive to the sad state of your life, but there are a lot of people out there with shitty lives, but you don't see them sucker punching out random people on the street.

Now an innocent man is dead. Drummer and Davis are being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. They are scheduled to return to Alameda Superior Court on June 28 for further proceedings.