A jury convicted two people of the murder of a photographer who was killed during a camera robbery at Twin Peaks in San Francisco.
Photographer Edward French was killed during a camera robbery as he was taking pictures of the then-under-construction Salesforce Tower at the popular tourist spot in 2017.
The 71-year-old photographer was also a film location scout and had been taking pictures shortly after sunrise when he was attacked.
On Thursday, Fantasy Decuir and accomplice Lamonte Nims were found guilty of first-degree murder by a jury at San Francisco’s Hall of Justice.
“The jury’s verdict holds Ms. Decuir and Mr. Mims accountable for the cold-blooded murder of an elder in our community doing what he loved to do the morning he was killed in 2017,” San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins says in a statement.
According to a report in San Francisco Public Safety News, the unanimous verdict by the jury came after 13 hours’ deliberation over four days and signals the end of a seven-year legal saga that has been marked by delay since its outset.
In June 2023, a jury failed to reach a verdict on the murder charges after becoming “hopelessly deadlocked.”
According to evidence presented at trial and witness testimony, French had gone to Twin Peaks in the early morning hours on July 16, 2017, to take pictures on his new camera, a Canon Mark III. Video surveillance footage captured Decuir and Mims approaching French and robbing him at gunpoint.
As Mims struggled to pull the camera away from French, Decuir shot French through the heart and right lung. As he bled, Mims pulled the bag from him and kicked him while he lay on the ground, according to prosecutors.
Evidence in the trial showed that Decuir and Mims had tried to sell the stolen camera near Seventh and Market streets just an hour after the killing, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
They robbed two tourists of their camera and credit cards at gunpoint just 12 days later, which is how they were ultimately identified and arrested for the Twin Peaks killing.
“It’s been a long time coming but it’s the right decision. “I’m relieved… in tears almost.”” French’s partner Brian Higginbotham tells San Francisco Public Safety News outside court.
Decuir and Mim are both in custody pending sentencing, which will take place on December 6.