Rashard Delrico Mack cocked his head and gave a sideways glance to the family of the man he murdered, but said nothing and walked out of the courtroom in silence Thursday after he was sentenced to prison for the rest of his life with no chance of parole.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Lloyd G. Connelly told the 22-year-old gunman in the March 24, 2007, shooting death of Jesse Reiter in the Valley Hi area that "your conduct was reprehensible and foolish and impacted the lives of this family in ways you don't fully appreciate."
The judge's comments came after Reiter's mother and sister told the court about the loss of their 36-year-old son and brother, who was gunned down after a night out of partying with a friend.
Reiter, the circulation manager for the Davis Enterprise newspaper at the time of his death, had been drinking at bars and a strip club in Woodland and Sacramento.
It was outside the Club Fantasy on Richards Boulevard, prosecutors said, that Reiter and his friend hooked up with a man who told them he could find them some women. Instead, the man who was Mack's co-defendant in the case, Ulysses Peter Walker, led them into the robbery setup, according to the prosecution.
When Reiter resisted, Mack shot and killed him with a single shotgun blast to his femoral artery, jurors found.
According to Reiter's relatives, the victim died on "the worst night of his life." But they didn't want the bad decision to overshadow a life they said was marked by humor, frolic and a deep love of family.
"I can't express how much it hurts to live in a world without Jesse," the victim's sister, Victoria Reiter Royer, told the court. "Mr. Mack, you took the gift of my brother away. You sentenced me and my family to a life without Jesse."
Mary Carol Reiter called her son "precious" and "adored," one of 10 children who was loved and respected by 46 immediate family members. She said her son, a former probation officer, spent a chunk of his life going to bat for people like the man who killed him.
"I guess you could say you murdered your advocate," Reiter told Mack.
Mack's girlfriend, Mauricea Vale, 19, and another woman showed up at the courtroom door about 15 minutes after the sentencing.
Vale said she believes that Mack is innocent. "It was just a mistaken identification," Vale said.
Mack, however, admitted to the shooting in a statement to police that was not allowed into the trial because he made it on the day of his arrest after he asked detectives for a lawyer but before he got one.
A second jury could not reach a verdict in the case against Walker, 21, and Judge Connelly declared a mistrial. Jurors had voted 11-1 to convict Walker.
His retrial is set for Aug. 21.
Call The Bee's Andy Furillo, (916) 321-1141.
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