A member of an Oakland gang called the "Nut Cases" that went on a 10-week crime spree that terrorized the city in late 2002 and early 2003 was sentenced Thursday to 23 years in state prison for killing two people more than four years ago.

Joe Ralls, 31, initially faced a possible death sentence for killing 24-year-old Jerry Duckworth and 14-year-old Keith Maki-Harris at an apartment at 871 Campbell St. in Oakland on Dec. 27, 2002.

But on April 20 prosecutor Darryl Stallworth allowed Ralls to plead no contest to two counts of voluntary manslaughter because he feared there wasn't enough evidence for Ralls to be convicted of murder at a jury trial.

Stallworth said that there was eyewitness evidence against Ralls but that Ralls never made any confessions to the shooting deaths.

"I wanted to make sure that he was held accountable, keeping in mind that the evidence might not be strong at a trial," Stallworth said.

Ralls' attorney, Michael Berger, said he agreed to have Ralls plead no contest to manslaughter because he had faced the possibility of being sentenced to life in prison without parole if he'd been convicted of two counts of murder.

Ralls will now be able to get out of prison while he's in his late 40s because he's being given credit for being in custody for nearly five years, Berger said.

The sentencing of Joe Ralls means that five of the eight Nut Cases defendants charged in 2003 have had their cases resolved but three still face trial.

Prosecutors dropped their quest for a death penalty sentence for Ralls after a related trial on similar charges last year in which jurors recommended life in prison instead of the death penalty for his half-brother, 23-year-old Demarcus Ralls.

Demarcus Ralls was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder, one count of second-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder, 17 counts of robbery, one count of kidnapping and one count of shooting into an inhabited dwelling. He also was implicated in a fifth murder.

Prosecutors considered Demarcus Ralls to be the worst of the eight Nut Cases defendants and figured if they couldn't get a death penalty verdict for him they couldn't get one for any of the defendants.

The gang members called themselves the Nut Cases because authorities said they engaged in their crime spree mainly for thrills. Some members of the group sported tattoos of the Planters "Mr. Peanut" logo.