OAKLAND (BCN) -- An Oakland man was sentenced Friday to 50 years to life in state prison for shooting to death an 18-year-old Laney College football player after the athlete argued with the man's sister over a TV remote control.

An Alameda County Superior Court jury deliberated for just over one day before convicting 24-year-old Patrick Allen of first-degree murder for shooting Robert Atkins Jr. multiple times at point-blank range at Atkins' home in the 2100 block of 26th Avenue about 11 a.m. on Feb. 27, 2005.

Allen admitted during his trial that he shot Atkins but claimed that he was overcome with emotion because he thought that Atkins had sexually assaulted his sister, who had been living with Atkins' family for several years, because she phoned him in tears that day and said Atkins had put his hands on her.

Allen said his sister had suffered emotional problems since being raped in 2000 and that he had promised her that he would never allow her to be hurt again.

Based on Allen's testimony, his attorney, William DuBois, asked jurors to convict him only of voluntary manslaughter, not murder, saying Allen had acted rashly and without premeditation.


But Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Paul Delucchi told jurors that first-degree murder would be the appropriate verdict in the case, arguing that Allen planned to shoot Atkins because he thought Atkins had “disrespected" his sister.

Delucchi also said the sister's phone call to Allen was only 29 seconds long and Allen never made an effort to find out what really had happened to her.

Delucchi said a murder can be reduced to manslaughter if a defendant was provoked and the provocation would have caused a person of average disposition to act rashly and without deliberation.

In his closing argument in December, Delucchi showed jurors a photograph of Atkins' bloodied body sprawled on the ground after he was shot and said, "A person of average disposition doesn't do this. A murderer does this."

Delucchi said in his opening statement in Allen's trial that Allen’s sister called Allen after she and Atkins got into an argument over a remote control and Atkins grabbed her arm and snatched the device from her grip.

The prosecutor alleged that Allen planned the killing and "was interested in an ambush and a quick escape."

Allen admitted on the witness stand that he drove away from the scene without helping Atkins and fled Oakland for three months before he was finally captured while trying to cross the border from Mexico back into the U.S. using a fake identification card.

Delucchi said Allen laughed after he was arrested because he thought that a friend of his had discarded the gun that was used in the shooting.

But he said Allen was chagrined when he later discovered that authorities had found the gun.

Allen was initially scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 20, but the hearing was postponed many times for a variety of reasons, including DuBois’ medical problems.

DuBois asked Judge Thomas Reardon, who presided over the case, to delay the sentencing again because he wants time to try to track down a videotape of Allen saying at a youth camp many years ago that the rape of his sister "was the worst thing that happened to him in his life."

DuBois said, "There's no substitute for a picture that's worth a thousand words" and he believes jurors might have reached a different verdict if they had seen the videotape.

But Reardon said Allen and his sister both testified during Allen’s trial about the impact the rape had on them and he thinks the videotape "wouldn't have made any meaningful difference" in the outcome of the case.

DuBois, who has handled many high-profile cases, including the trial of Hans Reiser, who was convicted last year of murdering his estranged wife Nina in Oakland in 2006, said Allen's case "is one of the greatest tragedies of my career."

He said the shooting "caused the death of a wonderful young man (Atkins) and the possible lifetime incarceration of another young man (Allen)."

Reardon said, "Both young men were greatly loved by their families and will be greatly missed."

After the hearing, Allen's mother, Desiree Allen, said he "broke down" and acted to defend his sister because "it was always his job to take care of her."

Desiree Allen said her son made "a horrible mistake" because he thought that his sister had been threatened by another man who spent time at Atkins’ home and had a criminal record and didn't realize that Atkins was the person who had argued with his sister.

Desiree Allen said, "This isn't the end of the case" and said her son will appeal his conviction and sentence.

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