Mother’s boyfriend convicted after Northern California boy, 6, fatally shot himself

A man faces up to eight years in prison next week after a Northern California jury convicted him of charges related to his girlfriend’s 6-year-old son fatally shooting himself with the man’s handgun, Sutter County prosecutors said.

Michael Marti, 34, was convicted Oct. 24 of willfully harming or injuring a child that’s likely to produce harm or death, improperly storing a firearm, having a firearm and a felon and having ammunition as a felon, according to online court records.

Marti kept loaded handguns around the home he shared with a girlfriend, the woman’s 6-year-old boy and their 6-month-daughter, prosecutors said.

The boy, whom prosecutors said had a learning disability, found a 9mm handgun in September 2021 on a living room table. While Marti slept in another room, the boy fired a bullet at his head and died.

Marti fled California after the incident and eventually turned himself in in late 2022, prosecutors said. The child’s mother testified at the three-day trial, prosecutors said, which ended with the jury finding him guilty.

He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 22, according to online court records.