OAKLAND — Three years after his supposed best friend took the stand against him in a pending murder case, a Dublin man has been sentenced to prison, records show.
Marco Dragula, 24, was sentenced to six years in state prison as part of a plea deal with Alameda County prosecutors. Dragula pleaded no contest to robbery and in return a murder charge against him was dismissed, court records show.
Dragula’s co-defendant, 23-year-old Aaron Hein, pleaded guilty to robbery in 2022 and was subsequently released from jail. The two were charged, along with a teen boy, Mikey Griffin, with murdering 43-year-old Auburn resident Tim Nielsen, a tow truck driver who specialized in repossessions.
Neilsen was robbed and fatally shot, causing him to crash his tow truck into a brick wall, on June 14, 2021 on E. 12th Street at 18th Avenue in Oakland. Hein testified that he and Dragula were best friends at the time and that Hein had stolen his dad’s Lincoln Navigator to sleep in and avoid homelessness.
“It wasn’t on purpose, I really feel like. I believe it was accidental,” Hein said of the shooting at Dragula’s 2022 preliminary hearing. Hein told police that Griffin had a BB gun and Dragula had a pistol, leading to the conclusion that Dragula was the shooter, according to court records.
But Dragula’s lawyer says that Hein had some serious credibility issues that raised doubts about his “self-serving” statements to police. This includes three active misdemeanor cases for alleged crimes of moral turpitude, including a domestic violence case filed earlier this year.
“Contrary to Mr. Hein’s statements made to the police and under the penalty of perjury at the preliminary hearing, Mr. Hein’s cell phone showed that he got out of the car several times on the night of the shooting, including moments before the shooting itself,” defense lawyer Seth Morris said in court filings. He added that Hein’s history “showed a pattern of criminality, moral turpitude, dishonesty, and evidence that when Mr. Hein is arrested with co-parts, he tends to minimize his own conduct and blame others.”
Dragula was transferred to North Kern State Prison on June 25, where he remains, records show. He receives credit for the time he spent in jail since he was arrested in late 2021, but must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence, court records show. Griffin was prosecuted as a juvenile, according to court records.
“Mr. Dragula has maintained his innocence since the day of his arrest,” Morris said.