Man who gunned down 17-year-old athlete in Sacramento sentenced to life without parole

The man convicted of murder in the 2020 fatal shooting of a 17-year-old Sacramento High School student was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In April, a Sacramento Superior Court jury convicted Curtis Anthony Slaton, 35, for shooting Jaylen Betschart from a vehicle. The jury also found true an allegation that Slaton had a prior strike conviction for carjacking, according to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.

Betschart, a Sacramento High School student and star athlete, was found with a gunshot wound on Oct. 3, 2020, after crashing his car into a utility pole near Granite Regional Park in the 8300 block of Jackson Road, near the intersection with Folsom Boulevard. Betschart was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sacramento police determined that Betschart had been shot once in the back, and detectives matched shell casings from the scene to a Glock recovered from Slaton’s home.

Police also obtained surveillance footage that showed a 2012 Dodge Avenger chasing down Betschart, which was later identified as belonging to Slaton. Detectives found that sedan at Slaton’s home and arrested him in March 2021.

A search warrant uncovered the Glock in a different vehicle at Slaton’s residence, as well as additional evidence showing that Slaton had been both the driver of the vehicle chasing Betschart and the person who shot him, according to prosecutors.

Betschart was a quarterback and a baseball player with dreams of a professional sports career that would allow him to help support his family, said Domina Stamas, his science and physics teacher at Sac High.

Mimi Hocking, Betschart’s aunt, said her nephew was smart, humble and loving kid who was always smiling.