OAKLAND — A city resident has been sentenced to 21 years and eight months in prison in a plea deal over a 2018 fatal shooting outside an East Oakland corner store, court records show.
Robert Graham, 51, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of 39-year-old Phillip Pullum. In exchange, prosecutors dropped murder a charge against Graham and a judge sentenced him on May 22. He remains in Santa Rita Jail, pending transfer to the state prison system.
Pullum was shot and killed Nov. 27, 2018, on the 3500 block of Davis Street. Prosecutors say that Graham and another man were driving through Oakland in Graham’s girlfriend’s car when they noticed Pullum standing by the trunk of his car. The driver allegedly stopped and Graham got out, confronted Pullum and then pulled out a firearm just six seconds into their argument. Police say he shot Pullum just eight seconds after pulling the gun.
Graham was arrested four months later, in February 2019, and has been at the jail ever since. The time spent on pretrial detention will count toward his prison sentence.
In court records, Graham’s attorney quoted a parole report noting Pullum’s history of “violent, vicious, and cruel behavior to family members and friends, children, as well as law enforcement” as proof that Pullum had violently threatened Graham on prior occasions. But prosecutors accused Graham of trying to concoct a self-defense case, alleging that while he was in jail he sent letters to his friend who witnessed the shooting, saying to testify that he “could tell I was scared and that I told you that’s like dude’s fourth time pulling a pistol on me.”
Deputy Public Defender Michael Wu, who represented Graham, said Graham deeply regrets what happened and that Graham has lost many loved ones to violence as well. He was working for a mortuary transporting bodies at the time of his arrest.
“Over the last four years of his pre-trial incarceration, Mr. Graham has repeatedly expressed deep regret and remorse for his actions on the night of this incident,” Wu wrote in court papers. “As someone that has personally lost many family members and loved ones to violent crime, he holds a unique understanding of the pain and loss that stems from these altercations in the community.”
Court records say Graham has six previous felony convictions that resulted in prison terms, but none for violence; four were drug-related, one was for gun possession and one was for evading police. Wu wrote in court papers that Graham’s last conviction was in 2013 and that his life was looking up when the homicide occurred.
Staff writer Harry Harris contributed reporting
