The life sentence of a Richmond man convicted of stabbing a man outside a Benicia bar in 2008 was overturned Tuesday by the Court of Appeals.
In 2009, Richmond resident James Bilbrey was found guilty of attempted murder and aggravated mayhem in the stabbing of Benicia resident Joseph Tomada, then 23, outside the Pastime Club the year before. Shortly after closing time at 2 a.m. July 13, 2008, Tomada and his sister Rachelle left the bar and walked down First Street with the intention to go to Rachelle’s condominium, according to a Court of Appeals document. After being caught up in a confrontation with a group that included Bilbrey, then 40, Joseph Tomada was repeatedly stabbed by Bilbrey in the mouth, which cut into his tongue and broke his teeth. Additionally, Tomada’s right eye was split open from front to back, leaving him blind in that eye, and with 20-80 vision in his left eye, making him legally blind, according to the Court of Appeals.
Benicia Police Officer Mark Simonson had received a dispatch for a knife-brandishing on First Street and then arrived to find Tomada bleeding while leaning over the back of a taxicab and Bilbrey lying motionless on the sidewalk with facial injuries. Both men were transported to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek.
Within a year of the incident, the Pastime Club was sold. The longtime establishment was succeeded at 726 First St. by The Rellik Tavern.
In 2010, Bilbrey had been sentenced to 11-years-to-life in prison by a Vallejo jury. In 2013, Bilbrey had filed a writ of habeas corpus, claiming he was denied the right to adequate assistance of counsel at his trial. In 2016, the trial court granted his petition on the grounds that his lawyer did not investigate potential mental defenses, such as his blood alcohol content, mental health history and traumatic brain injury, which the court believed fell outside the range of competence expected by attorneys in criminal cases. They also felt the lawyer’s defense that Bilbrey was acting in self-defense was not a strong case. The appellate court concurred, noting that Bilbrey’s result at trial would have had a different result had his counsel presented a more thorough case.
An opinion was filed Tuesday, although a trial date has not been set.
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Knifing and maiming sentence where both participants were injured was 11 years to life….I assume that meant he was eligible for parole? SO, in 2008 he committed the crime, in 2009 was found guilty, in 2010, he was sentenced, in 2013 he appealed, in 2016 he was granted a writ…and we’re talking about it in 2018 which is only 2 years from completion of his minimum sentence. His lawyer in 2009 apparently mailed the defense in…
I suppose justice will have been done even if he now gets out on this appeal… The victim, of course, is still blind.
Am I the only one who is disheartened by the length of time and amount of effort that has gone into this? Not to mention the half million dollars or so we taxpayers have spent on it. There’s got to be a better way.