Judge throws out Berkeley murder case at pretrial hearing​on March 13, 2025 at 6:18 pm

Preliminary hearings have a low legal bar, but a judge ruled that the prosecution’s theory couldn’t even get past that.   

OAKLAND — A murder case over a Berkeley fatal shooting has failed to make it past a rudimentary legal hurdle, after the judge sided with a defense lawyer’s interpretation that the killing was justified.

Darnell Anding, 42, who also goes by Marcel Bible, was charged with murder in the Aug. 16, 2024 homicide of 52-year-old Corey “BC” Waters. The fatal shooting occurred inside a shared living facility on Adeline Street where both men stayed.

At the March 6 hearing, Judge Thomas Reardon threw out the murder charge, but allowed a gun possession count to stand. The result is that Anding remains jailed in lieu of $50,000 bail for now, but no longer faces life in prison if convicted, or a no-bail hold while the case is pending.

The legal hurdle for preliminary hearings is probable cause. It is a far lower standard than what prosecutors must establish at jury trials; dismissals at this stage are uncommon for murder cases.

Anding’s lawyer, Ernie Castillo, argued that Waters had a firearm and was seen going into the shared residence with it right before the homicide. When Anding was arrested, he told police that Waters had threatened to kill him, court records show.

“This was a complete self-defense and should never have been charged,” Castillo said in a brief interview.

Last year, authorities said that Waters and Anding were longtime friends who had sold drugs together in the past, but had been arguing in the days before Waters death. Castillo says that Waters followed Anding up to the fourth floor of the residence, where the deadly confrontation occurred.

Police say that after the shooting, Anding went to a neighboring residence and washed himself, discarded bloody clothing and wrapped two firearms into a t-shirt. The guns were later recovered from the closet where he allegedly stashed them.

Authorities identified Anding as a suspect with help from other residents in the facility, but had to navigate through Anding’s many aliases, to include “Dope,” Salaah Odin, and “Cell,” court records show.

Anding is set to be arraigned next week on the gun charge, according to court records.

Originally Published: March 13, 2025 at 11:18 AM PDT

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OAKLAND — A murder case over a Berkeley fatal shooting has failed to make it past a rudimentary legal hurdle, after the judge sided with a defense lawyer’s interpretation that the killing was justified.

Darnell Anding, 42, who also goes by Marcel Bible, was charged with murder in the Aug. 16, 2024 homicide of 52-year-old Corey “BC” Waters. The fatal shooting occurred inside a shared living facility on Adeline Street where both men stayed.

At the March 6 hearing, Judge Thomas Reardon threw out the murder charge, but allowed a gun possession count to stand. The result is that Anding remains jailed in lieu of $50,000 bail for now, but no longer faces life in prison if convicted, or a no-bail hold while the case is pending.

The legal hurdle for preliminary hearings is probable cause. It is a far lower standard than what prosecutors must establish at jury trials; dismissals at this stage are uncommon for murder cases.

Anding’s lawyer, Ernie Castillo, argued that Waters had a firearm and was seen going into the shared residence with it right before the homicide. When Anding was arrested, he told police that Waters had threatened to kill him, court records show.

“This was a complete self-defense and should never have been charged,” Castillo said in a brief interview.

Last year, authorities said that Waters and Anding were longtime friends who had sold drugs together in the past, but had been arguing in the days before Waters death. Castillo says that Waters followed Anding up to the fourth floor of the residence, where the deadly confrontation occurred.

Police say that after the shooting, Anding went to a neighboring residence and washed himself, discarded bloody clothing and wrapped two firearms into a t-shirt. The guns were later recovered from the closet where he allegedly stashed them.

Authorities identified Anding as a suspect with help from other residents in the facility, but had to navigate through Anding’s many aliases, to include “Dope,” Salaah Odin, and “Cell,” court records show.

Anding is set to be arraigned next week on the gun charge, according to court records.