By Mia Machado
SACRAMENTO – Denying a bail review motion, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Savage opined from the bench to Assistant Public Defender Shelby Alberts that her client is “lucky” not to be charged with murder in a co-defendant case.
Attorneys for all three defendants involved in the co-defendant murder case convened to join their complaints into one case Wednesday, and PD Alberts, representing defendant Fatima Watson, motioned the court to review her bail, currently set at $500,000.
In the co-defendant matter, Watson is alleged to have been driving the vehicle for three other men who went to a hotel room “to do some sort of exchange.” Upon exiting the hotel, one of the three men shot and killed an individual inside the room, before returning to the vehicle that the defendant was allegedly driving.
Citing the defendant’s significant ties to the community and her cooperative contributions to the case, Attorney Alberts argued Watson posed no flight risk if bail was lowered to $50,000.
Deputy District Attorney Andrea Morris, however, disagreed, citing the defendant’s history of misdemeanors and failures to appear in court as grounds to assume she would flee, which proved to be more convincing to the court.
Agreeing with DDA Morris’ concerns, Judge Savage added that if the crime had been committed a few years earlier before California changed its felony murder rule, the defendant would have been 
included in the case’s more serious charge of murder. With this, he denied her motion.
While providing a factual basis to the court, Ms. Alberts explained that her defendant is in a dating relationship and shares children with the man being charged with murder and the alleged shooter in the case.
Shortly after the incident, it was the defendant’s boyfriend who made the two of them flee to Texas, where they were later found by law enforcement, Alberts said, adding that, despite leaving the state, Watson showed an overwhelming willingness to cooperate with the investigation.
Declaring that “cooperative” was an understatement, attorney Alberts emphasized that the defendant has “given [law enforcement] information in order to prosecute this murder case that they would never have had without her cooperation.”
PD Alberts went on to explain that, although she recognizes the prosecution’s concerns over the defendant’s flight risk, she “could not disagree more.”
In addition to the defendant being a mother of seven and a lifetime resident of Sacramento, both her parents and seven of her siblings live in the area, demonstrating how significant Watson’s ties are to the community, argued her attorney, noting that the defendant has been a victim of domestic violence at the hands of the co-defendant for a long time.
Pointing to the discovery in the case, defense counsel Alberts said that “it’s very clear it was not her choice to go to Texas.” Once apprehended, the defendant told police that she had been “previously threatened” by the co-defendant and “want[ed] away from this man.”
Despite being charged with a serious crime, the defendant has also “been a victim to her co-defendant for a long time,” said Alberts.
Not only did DDA Morris disagree with lowering the defendant’s bail, but she also advocated to increase it to $1 million, “given the nature and circumstances” of the case.
DDA Morris, recognizing that this was a significant deviation from the bail schedule, provided a series of reasons for deciding upon this request, including that Watson is only 27 years old but already possesses two prior misdemeanor convictions, one occurring in 2014 and the other in 2016. Between 2008 and 2018, the defendant also had 16 prior failures to appear.
DDA Morris explained that the basis for believing that the victim will flee is because the defendant “in fact fled right after this homicide was committed.”
In order to detain and bring the co-defendants back to California, “it took the Houston Police Department, the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department and the FBI” to locate them. The co-defendants had multiple phones that they discarded while attempting to avoid apprehension.
To finish her statement, DDA Morris expressed the potential for more charges to be filed in the case, possibly increasing incentive for the defendant to flee.
Addressing PD Alberts, Judge Savage said that he “appreciated” her argument, but that the facts she provided “do not give me any further confidence about her (Watson) being able to show up. In fact, they do just the opposite.”
Judge Savage agreed with the arguments provided by DDA Morris, asserting that, given the severity of the case, “it’s only by mere fortuitous circumstances that she only faces a robbery.”
Had the incident occurred “a mere two or three years ago,” under the old California felony murder rule, the defendant’s role in the case would have faced more serious charges.
Seeing that the defendant “could have easily be facing a 187 under (the old) felony murder rule,” she’s “very lucky that California has taken the stance it has on felony murder,” said the judge.
Although admitting that he may not understand all the circumstances of the case, Judge Savage said that the facts provided by not only DDA Morris but even PD Alberts were convincing enough for him to deny the defendant’s motion.
The judge left bail at $500,000, and the court will resume the matters of the case on Jan 13.
Mia Machado is a junior at UC Davis, currently majoring in Political Science-Public Service and minoring in Luso-Brazilian studies. She is originally from Berkeley, California
To sign up for our new newsletter – Everyday Injustice – https://tinyurl.com/yyultcf9
Support our work – to become a sustaining at $5 – $10- $25 per month hit the link:
