MARTINEZ – Before he was sentenced to life in prison without the potential for parole for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Ramello Randle offered an evidence for why he stabbed his own attorney during his trial.
Randle, a 29-year-old Oakland resident, told a psychologist during an evaluation on Aug. 21 that he had two other personalities he knew as “Mello” and “Ashton.” Mello was a pleasant guy, but Ashton could make bad decisions at worst, he said, based on a duplicate of the report Randle filed in court.
“When I'm Ashton I get these migraines and I feel like I'm going to faint. This is what happened once I stabbed my lawyer. I got here to Ashton,” Randle said, according to Dr. Martin H. Williams. “(Ashton) believes everyone is out to hurt him. Sometimes it makes me want to hurt people. That’s not my intention, that’s not who I am.”
Williams was hired by Matthew Fregi, the defense attorney who Randle stabbed in the head and neck with a pen during Randle's murder trial last March, causing superficial injuries. But at the end of his interview, the psychologist concluded that Randle's portrayal of his alter egos was “logically inconsistent” and not credible, and he questioned how Randle learned of Ashton's existence if the blackouts were real. Fregi chose not to use the report for a defense, but Randle submitted it anyway as evidence for a handwritten defense motion, bypassing his counsel.
Randle was convicted last March of murdering his ex-girlfriend, 24-year-old Jonaye Lahkel Bridge, during a bitter custody battle. Prosecutors say he planted a tracking device in her car and followed her to a 7-Eleven in Antioch, where he shot her and a man as they sat in a vehicle. The man survived.
Since his arrest, Randle's murder case has been in chaos. He served as his own attorney for a trial last year but lost his self-representation and caused a mistrial by swearing at the prosecutor and judge in the presence of the jury.
After attacking a previous attorney in court, Randle Fregi was assigned as a court-appointed attorney. During his trial last March, Randle allegedly wrote “I'm sorry” on a piece of paper and then stabbed Fregi with a pen. Jurors witnessed the incident and one later said he was too upset to continue the case and was excused.
But the process limped along. Towards the end, Randle reportedly threatened to murder the entire jury if they found him guilty, according to multiple sources who witnessed the incident. After Randle was found guilty of murder and lying, he submitted a handwritten petition saying a life without parole sentence was “cruel and weird” and “clearly racial discrimination.”
Justice John Kennedy was apparently unmoved. Late last month, he sentenced Randle to life in prison without parole. On Sept. 26, Randle was transferred to North Kern State Prison, records show.
Originally published:
image credit : www.mercurynews.com