Man sentenced to 16 years for assaulting maintenance man with a shotgun

A Sacramento man was sentenced to 16 years in prison Friday for assaulting an apartment maintenance man with a shotgun, according to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.

Gerald Franklin Jr., 31, and his wife were involved in a verbal altercation with their apartment manager and the maintenance man on July 31, 2018. The next day, Franklin’s wife went to argue with the maintenance man, who lived in the apartment above them. The man ended up pushing the woman out of his apartment, prompting her to tell Franklin that she had been hit.

Prosecutors said Franklin then grabbed a shotgun and threatened the man with it by pointing it directly at his chest. In the ensuing struggle, the shotgun went off and hit the man in the hand. The man had to go through several surgeries and still has permanent damage to his fingers, according to prosecutors

Franklin was arrested two weeks later and on Oct. 4 was convicted of assault with a firearm, mayhem with a firearm and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He had several prior conviction on his record including assault and battery, domestic violence and vehicle theft.

This story was originally published November 15, 2019 at 6:26 PM.