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April 15, 2009

Walnut Creek woman charged in attorney's death

A 28-year-old Walnut Creek woman has been charged in the shooting death of her attorney boyfriend in the home they shared in Oakland.

The Oakland Tribune says the Rennie Pratt, who worked at a barber shop near Rossmoor and cut hair for residents of the retirement community, was arraigned Tuesday on murder charges in connection with last Friday's death of Michael Porcella in the 3700 block of Laguna Avenue.

Police told both the Tribune and the San Francisco Chronicle that the killing was the culmination of a series of domestic disputes involving the couple, who had been living together about six months and known each other for more than a year. The most recent argument may have started at Friday night's Oakland A's home opener.

The Tribune says that Pratt is the mother of three children, all under 6 years old who live with their father Central California. The Tribune further says:

Porcella was an attorney for the Robert J. Beles law firm in Oakland, which specializes in criminal defense, but had been laid off in the summer for economic reasons.

Porcella graduated from Oakland's Bishop O'Dowd High School and Saint Mary's College in Moraga. He received his law degree from Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry that this happened, and for the ladys kids. Domestic dispute? I don't know. People say the lawyer was a really great guy. I just hope that they figure out what happened.

Anonymous said...

Saw that the Porcella's firm represnted those thugs with yOUR Black Muslim Bakery. Maybe Porcella was a good person as friends say but wonder about the business he was doing.

Anonymous said...

10:19,

The business he was doing was representing clients. That's his job.

Are you saying that he deserved to die?

Anonymous said...

10:19- It's evident that someone thought he deserved to die. Let's see, a lawyer that represents scum but is a 'really great guy'. I'm sure that there is more than one person who thinks, without any other knowledge of the incident, that yes, he was deserving of his fate...

Anonymous said...

10:19 I don't think anyone deserves to die in this way. And he had his job as an attorney, a crimianl attorney and they represent criminals. Someone has to. That's the way it works. So I wonder if HER attorney will try to make the case that she was provoked, or defending herself that maybe he was even asking for it. That could happen.