A six-time felon appeared in court today on a murder charge for the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old man in East Oakland in October 2016 but delayed entering a plea until he returns to court on June 8.
Jose De La Cruz, 44, is charged in the shooting death of 22-year-old Adrian Rios at a house in the 1200 block of 95th Avenue on Oct. 10, 2016.
Oakland police found Rios' body at about 9:24 a.m. that day but aren't sure how long he had been dead.
In a probable cause statement, Oakland police Officer Hector Jimenez wrote that, "De La Cruz told several witnesses that he committed the murder of Rios."
Jimenez said De La Cruz's admission to those witnesses was collaborated by surveillance camera footage of the shooting.
Rios' death remained unsolved until last October, when police issued a warrant for De La Cruz and arrested him a few days later.
In addition to murder, De La Cruz is charged with shooting at an inhabited building and being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm.
Prosecutors say his first conviction occurred in 1991, when he was found guilty of forced oral copulation, and that he was convicted of failing to register as a sex offender in 2000.
Prosecutors say De La Cruz also has two convictions each for evading an officer, in 2009 and 2013, and for being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm, in 2003 and 2015.
