LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A young Sacramento man was sentenced this week to 31 years to life in state prison for a May 2011 drive-by shooting in Clearlake that left a man wounded.
On Wednesday Judge Stephen Hedstrom handed down the sentence to Jerry Lee King Jr., 20, who a jury had found guilty of shooting a firearm from a vehicle at a person who was not an occupant of a vehicle, according to the District Attorney's Office.
Det. Ryan Peterson with the Clearlake Police Dept. was the lead investigator into the shooting that occurred in Clearlake on May 7, 2011.
Senior Deputy District Attorney John DeChaine prosecuted the case and Barry Melton served as King’s defense attorney.
The evidence at trial revealed that prior to the shooting, one of King’s friends, a juvenile male, was in a verbal dispute over the telephone with a juvenile female and others at the victim’s residence.
King drove his male juvenile friend and two others to the street where the victim lived in anticipation of an encounter following the heated phone calls, according to the investigation.
When King pulled to the end of the street where the victim lived, the victim, a male adult, was outside his residence with two friends, the District Attorney's Office reported.
As the men approached the car, investigators said King retrieved a firearm from under the car seat and, reaching across his front passenger, fired out the open, passenger side window. King fired the gun more than once before driving off.
The victim, who was unarmed, was shot in the abdomen, the District Attorney's Office said.
The victim was transported via helicopter to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where he underwent emergency, life-saving surgery. Officials said the bullet, resting near the victim’s spine, remains there today.
Hours after the shooting, King was arrested at a Clearlake apartment complex after it was reported that he brandished a firearm at female resident in an otherwise unrelated matter.
Det. Peterson searched the vehicle King used to drive to the apartment complex and located a gun that later turned out to be the gun used in both the shooting and the brandishing incidents, the investigation revealed.
The jury trial, presided over by Hedstrom, began on Oct. 11, 2012, and concluded on Nov. 15, 2012, when the jury reached their unanimous verdicts, the District Attorney’s Office said.