An Oakland man previously convicted of manslaughter is facing additional prison time after an Alameda County Superior Court jury found him guilty of first-degree murder Tuesday.
James Wheeler, 45, was already in jail for a previous killing when he was arrested last September for the May 26, 2023 shooting death of Dexter Appleby in Emeryville.
The jury found that Wheeler killed Appleby at the intersection of 41st Street and San Pablo Avenue and was seen on surveillance video walking toward the area of the shooting, according to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.
Two witnesses testified that Wheeler shot Appleby once while he was standing and then twice more while he was on the ground, according to prosecutors.
“The case remained unsolved for two years until a witness came forward to the Emeryville Police Department and identified Wheeler in surveillance videos leading up to the shooting,” prosecutors said in a news release Thursday.
Armed with new information, investigators were able to find the gun Wheeler used in his home.
Also, District Attorney’s Office inspectors tracked Wheeler’s cellphone data and found that it was connected to several towers in the area on the night Appleby was killed.
Wheeler was already in jail for the killing of Johnny Johnson on Nov. 21, 2023.
Johnson was sitting in a car in the 6900 block of Bancroft Avenue in Oakland when he was shot and killed.
Wheeler is facing up to 50 years to life in prison and is scheduled for two sentencing hearings, one on June 10 and one on June 16, according to jail records.
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