Gregory Elarms

The prime suspect in the 2010 shooting of an East Palo Alto activist pleaded no contest Thursday to charges of possessing three homemade shanks in the county jail while awaiting trial for murder in exchange for no more than four years in prison.

Instead of having a preliminary hearing Thursday, Gregory Leon Elarms Sr., 60, pleaded no contest to three felony charges of possessing weapons in the jail during February 2011 — first a spork, then a toothbrush and a third, two pencils strapped together. Each had been sharpened to a point and reportedly discovered in Elarms’ cell. Elarms pleaded no contest on the condition of no more than four years in state prison, the maximum he faced was six, said District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. Elarms will be back in court Jan. 30 for the imposition of sentence.

Elarms actions keep him in custody on $500,000 bail another month. The weapons case is separate from the now-dismissed murder charges but evidence, including his police confession, in that matter may be used in the bail hearing by prosecutors who contend it shows prior acts and threats of violence.

At the time of the weapons charges, Elarms was in custody without bail awaiting trial for the June 8, 2010 murder of East Palo Alto activist David Lewis in the parking garage of Hillsdale Shopping Center in San Mateo. During the murder trial in November, Judge Stephen Hall ruled Elarms’ police confession inadmissible because San Mateo police did not Mirandize the Pittsburg man or respond to his numerous requests for a lawyer. Without the confession, Hall also ruled there was insufficient evidence for a murder trial.

Hall let stand one jail weapons charge already filed but prosecutors opted instead to dismiss that case so they could instead file three similar counts. Doing so allows the prosecution to keep Elarms in the legal system while they have the state Attorney General’s Office appeal Hall’s ruling.

Elarms is accused of following Lewis from San Mateo Medical Center, where he was an outreach worker, to the parking garage and shooting him once in the torso. The men reportedly knew each other from childhood but Elarms believed Lewis had become his enemy.

Heather Murtagh can be reached by email: heather@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 105.