A parolee who gunned down a romantic rival on a Hemet street was sentenced Friday to 125 years to life in state prison.
A Banning jury in August deliberated less than a day before convicting 42-year-old Samuel James Wright of Hemet of the 2020 slaying of Frank Ray of Hemet.
Jurors found Wright guilty of first-degree murder, being a felon in possession of a firearm, witness intimidation and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Rene Navarro imposed the maximum sentence during a hearing at the Banning Justice Center.
According to the prosecution, there was ill will between the defendant and Ray because both men were involved with the same woman, whose identity was not disclosed in court documents.
The two men had engaged in verbal altercations, but nothing physical, and on the night of last Dec. 28, it did not appear as if they were going to be combative after encountering one another outside the Green Tree Apartments, where the 43-year-old victim was walking with the woman in the 300 block of North Hamilton Street.
According to a trial brief filed by Deputy District Attorney Sean Oswill, Wright initially trailed behind the victim and his girlfriend, showing no aggression, but as they drew closer to the entrance of the apartment complex, the convicted felon abruptly walked ahead of them, then turned and drew a 9mm semiautomatic handgun, firing one time into Ray’s chest.
Most of the attack was captured on a security surveillance video camera, though the faces of the parties were blurred, Oswill said.
He said that Wright threatened his lover before fleeing the location.
Ray clung to life, but fell unconscious before Hemet police officers reached the scene. He was taken to Riverside University Medical Center in Moreno Valley, where he died that night.
Homicide detectives initially received conflicting accounts of what happened from the sole witness, who later admitted that Wright had “threatened me that night, and (said)if I said anything, he’d kill me,” according to the brief.
The woman ultimately acknowledged that Wright was the gunman, according to prosecutors.
The parolee was spotted eight days later driving an unregistered vehicle in Pomona, where a patrolman attempted to stop him, culminating in the defendant bailing out of the Buick sedan and running a short distance before he was apprehended, Oswill said.
According to court records, his prior convictions include assault and assault with a deadly weapon.