Two Pasadena Murder Cases Land on the Same Courthouse Calendar

Two men charged in two unrelated Pasadena killings are due before two different judges Thursday morning, in the same building, at the same hour.

Neither case has yet reached a jury.

Aaron Miguel Conell is charged in the shooting death of Mickey Cooper, 64, at Washington Park. Mark Anthony Levels, 54 at the time of his arrest, is charged in the shooting death of Tynisha Houston, 34, at an apartment complex on North Fair Oaks Avenue where both lived. Both have been in custody since 2023.

Conell’s pretrial hearing is set for 8:30 a.m. Thursday, July 30 in Department C of the Pasadena Courthouse, 300 East Walnut Street, before Judge Darrell Mavis. Levels is due the same hour in Department F, before Judge Michael D. Carter.

Conell, now 26, was charged with one count each of murder, attempted murder and assault with a semiautomatic firearm, with allegations on all counts, according to the District Attorney’s Office. His bail is $4.025 million, and he faces more than 50 years to life if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty.

The charges cover three incidents over three weeks. On Oct. 29, 2023, at 2:18 a.m., officers responding to gunshots at Washington Park, 700 East Washington Boulevard, found a man shot in the neck. On Nov. 5 at 9:25 p.m., Conell is accused of pointing a gun at a man seated in a car at a Pasadena gas station. Then on Nov. 18 at 4:10 a.m., officers returned to the park and found a man who died at the scene.

That man was Mickey Cooper, the younger brother of Michael Cooper, the Pasadena-raised Lakers guard and Hall of Famer. The brothers had played basketball at the park as boys.

Police arrested Conell later that day and allegedly recovered a loaded 9 mm semiautomatic firearm from his vehicle that they believe was used in all three incidents. Investigators identified no motive, and police have said Conell has no prior felony convictions and no gang affiliations.

The Houston shooting came three months before the killing at the park. The victim was shot at 1:11 a.m. on Aug. 8, 2023, in the 2000 block of North Fair Oaks Avenue, according to a Pasadena Police Department news release issued two days later. Paramedics took her to a hospital, where she died.

Officers found Levels inside the same complex a short time afterward and detained him without incident, according to reports.

Detectives executed a search warrant and allegedly recovered a firearm. The investigation reportedly determined that Levels and Houston were tenants in the complex, and that the shooting followed a verbal argument in a common area related to “a tenant dispute” involving residents of two different apartment units.

The District Attorney’s Office filed a felony murder complaint against Levels on Aug. 10, 2023. Bail was set at $3.1 million. A preliminary hearing was held Feb. 27, 2024. Pretrial hearings followed in 2025 and again in January 2026.

As of Thursday, Levels has been held roughly 36 months, Conell roughly 32.