Man guilty of murder in 2020 shooting of 17-year-old Sacramento High student athlete
A man has been found guilty of murdering a 17-year-old Sacramento Charter High School senior near Granite Regional Park in 2020, and faces life in prison without parole.
A Sacramento Superior Court jury last week convicted Curtis Anthony Slaton, 35, of first-degree murder in the death of Jaylen Betschart.
The jury also found true a special circumstance that Slaton fired a weapon from a motor vehicle, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Slaton fatally shot Betschart, a quarterback and baseball star who had just entered his senior year at Sacramento High, on Oct. 3, 2020. The Sacramento Police Department said Betschart’s vehicle was found crashed into a power pole near Jackson Road and Florin Perkins Road, and that he had also been shot.
Police determined Betschart had been shot once in the back, and that shell casings left at the scene matched a Glock handgun recovered from Slaton’s home, prosecutors said in the news release.
Sacramento police obtained surveillance video showing the suspect vehicle chasing down Betschart. Detectives identified the car as belonging to Slaton and located it at his residence, prosecutors wrote.
A search warrant turned up the Glock in a different vehicle parked at Slaton’s residence, as well as additional evidence showing Slaton was both the driver and shooter, the DA’s office said.
The Sacramento Police Department a few days after the shooting announced the arrest of a 17-year-old boy, who was initially booked on a murder charge. Police never identified that suspect or provided details on his alleged role in the shooting, citing his status as a juvenile.
In March 2021, police identified and arrested Slaton on homicide charges.
Slaton was found guilty in a jury trial that concluded last Friday. He is scheduled for sentencing June 10.
Prosecutors said an allegation that Slaton has a prior strike conviction for carjacking will be determined at his sentencing hearing.
Slaton faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, prosecutors said.
This story was originally published April 26, 2022 at 2:31 PM.
