OAKLAND — A judge has denied a murder suspect’s bid for freedom, weeks after he was arrested and charged in a 2025 shooting, court records show.
Diont Lyons, 52, was charged in August with killing Nickolas Rose, 40, in a Jan. 22, 2025 shooting that police say was motivated by a feud between the two men. Lyons’ lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Jennie Otis, argued in court filings the case was based on “multiple levels of hearsay” and that Lyons has deep ties to the area and would show up to court.
Judge Rozlynn Silvaggio denied the bail motion at an Aug. 7 court appearance, records show. Lyons has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to have an Aug. 26 preliminary hearing.
The case against Lyons includes phone records allegedly placing him 4200 block of Bancroft Avenue in Oakland at the time that Rose was shot and killed there. Friends of his also told police they knew that afterwards Lyons’ gun was “dirty.” Months later, another witness told police that Rose’s killer was “in y’all’s possession. Not once but twice,” which prosecutors say corresponded with Lyons’ arrests in January and February 2025.
Hours after the killing, Lyons allegedly shared a news article about Rose being killed and texted, “dude has left the building,” which authorities have interpreted as an implicit admission. He has been charged with murder, assault, and being a 10-time felon in possession of a firearm, court records show. His priors include two gun possession convictions in 2016 and 2017 and an ammunition possession conviction from last February, according to the criminal complaint.