Daren Keith McCoy is sentenced to 15½ years in prison for the 1997 death of Anthony Branch Jr.

Wednesday, April 26, 2000

By Michelle Roberts of The Oregonian staff

The life of notorious Portland gangster Anthony Branch Jr. ended more than two years ago with the bang of gunfire, but the case against the man accused of killing him wrapped up Tuesday without so much as a whimper.

There were no spectators in the courtroom Tuesday as Daren Keith McCoy, 32, quietly pleaded guilty to reduced charges of first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 15½ years in prison.

Sentencings on murder charges are usually marked by emotionally charged testimony from victims' family members and friends, and sometimes a monologue of remorse by the accused.

But no one appeared in Multnomah County Circuit Judge Linda L. Bergman's courtroom Tuesday to remember Branch Jr., also known as " 'lil Smurf," a member of the Kerby Blocc Crips, who died Oct. 9, 1997, at age 20.

Branch's father, Anthony Branch Sr., was killed in 1995 after several men stormed his apartment, demanded to know his son's whereabouts, beat him and finally shot him. Branch's mother, Monica A. Alexander, is in prison on convictions for theft, robbery and escape. And many of Branch's friends and fellow gang members are also in prison on charges ranging from racketeering to aggravated murder.

McCoy did not speak in court about Branch, whom he admitted to shooting in the neck in the parking lot of a Northeast Portland strip joint. When Bergman asked if he did the killing, McCoy simply replied, "Yes, ma'am."

McCoy joked with his three lawyers before Tuesday's hearing and complained loudly to them that he didn't want the fact that he is serving a 30-year sentence on federal drug charges reported in the newspaper. McCoy was one of 23 people charged in 1998 in a massive crack cocaine trafficking and money laundering conspiracy.

Federal law enforcement authorities allege that between January 1996 and December 1997, McCoy and others brought "multi-kilograms" of cocaine from Fresno, Calif., to Portland and Western Washington.

McCoy pleaded guilty to those charges, but his 30-year sentence is expected to be "shortened substantially" if he follows through with a deal to testify against more than a dozen co-defendants who are scheduled to go on trial in October, said John Ransom, who is representing McCoy in the federal case.

In accepting the plea in Branch's killing, Bergman warned McCoy that he would have to serve the full sentence for first-degree manslaughter, even if the federal charges were reduced below 15½ years.

"Hopefully, he will be of great assistance to the federal prosecution, but our office insisted on this 15½-year sentence so he won't be able to be out before then, even if he assists the feds in prosecuting their case," said Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Chuck French.

The Measure 11 sentence for first-degree manslaughter is 10 years. But the plea agreement added 5½ years because of McCoy's criminal history.

McCoy, known on the street as "Bey Bey," was on parole in Oregon at the time of his arrest in April 1998. He had been in and out of prison in Oregon since a 1989 conviction for first-degree robbery in Douglas County. He was released under a supervised program in 1990 but returned to prison several times after violating his parole until his release in January 1996, Corrections Department records show.

McCoy will serve the full 10-year sentence, with credit for the two years he's already served. But the additional 5½ years is subject for good-time reduction, French said. McCoy will serve the state and federal charges concurrently in federal prison.

"I believe this was the appropriate result," French said. "It was a case involving some dispute on both sides as to what happened and the motivations."

Despite his youth, Branch had become one of Portland's most prolific and legendary gang members, implicated in many shootings and so afraid for his life that he frequently wore a bulletproof vest. He was not wearing it the night he died.

According to police testimony at a bail hearing, McCoy went to the nude dance club looking to settle a score with a man who stole five kilograms of cocaine from his drug ring. The ring went to Fresno twice a week and each time brought back to Portland 10 kilograms of cocaine, worth as much as $300,000 on the street, police said.

Instead, prosecutors said McCoy ran into Branch, argued with him and shot him in the neck. Branch bled to death.

Six members of Branch's Kirby Blocc Crips were indicted in 1998 and later sent to prison on racketeering charges. Branch's name was on the list of those to be charged, but he was killed before the indictments were prepared.

Since his death, Branch has been immortalized in a highly successful, locally produced gangster rap album featuring the song "No Deal," an angry retort to Multnomah County's attempt to file racketeering charges against the slain gang member.

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