Charges dismissed for 2 in SB slaying

Mike Cruz, Staff Writer
San Bernardino County Sun

Article Launched:08/31/2007 12:00:00 AM PDT

SAN BERNARDINO - Charges were dismissed against a man and woman arrested in connection with the slaying of Tra DeWitt Jackson in June in a Mountain Avenue carport .
Prosecutors made a motion to dismiss the charges against Deangelo Banks, 21, and Devina Nashell Lewis, 31.

Judge Cara D. Hutson ordered the charges dismissed Wednesday in San Bernardino Superior Court.

"At this time, there was insufficient evidence to proceed with the case," said Deputy District Attorney William Lee in a telephone interview.

Lee said he could not elaborate on the case.

Miles Clark and Mark Cantrell, both Riverside-based lawyers for the defendants, could not be reached for comment.

The Jackson homicide now returns to being an open and unsolved investigation, Lee said.
At a news conference held days after the June 4 shooting, San Bernardino police described the homicide as an execution.

The suspects "clearly staked out, watched and laid in wait for this man's death," Sgt. Bill Hanley said at the conference at the police station. "It was a very callous homicide."

Three men walked into a carport and one shot the 24-year-old Jackson at close range, police said in June.

It was unclear whether he was going to or returning from the apartment complex in the 2900 block of North Mountain Avenue when at 7:35 p.m. he was surprised by the shooter, police said.

Police found no evidence that Jackson was involved in a gang or a witness to a crime, officials said in June.

Surveillance video shows two men, acting as lookouts, walk through wrought-iron gates just before a man quickly pulls a gun out, loads the weapon, and stuffs it back into his pocket.

Other cameras caught footage of a four-door red GMC drop the men off across the street from the carport, turn around and wait in front of a stop sign on Loma Street.

The vehicle had a luggage rack, chrome wheels and a paper license plate from an unidentified car dealership.

The recording also shows three men running up Loma to the getaway car, which fled north on Lynwood Avenue.

Jackson was transported to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he died at 7:50 a.m. on June 5.

Anyone with information about Jackson's death can contact San Bernardino police at (909) 384-5742.