FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEBRUARY 20, 2010
CONTACT:
ADA Brian Buckelew, DA Harris’ Office, (415) 553-1383
Erica Derryck, DA Harris’ Office, (415) 553-1167
THREE-STRIKER SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR 2007 SOMA SHOOTING
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – District Attorney Kamala D. Harris announced today that Kevin Lipscomb, 39 (Court No. 2319247), was sentenced yesterday to life in state prison for the 2007 shooting of a man in the SoMa area of San Francisco. Lipscomb will not be eligible for parole for 67 years.
"This defendant committed a brazen and violent act knowing full well he was facing a third strike and life in prison," said District Attorney Kamala D. Harris. "Sharon Reardon and the San Francisco Police Department did a great job in securing that third strike and taking this menace off the streets for good."
On January 14, 2009, Lipscomb was convicted of a felony charge of evading an officer with willful disregard (Vehicle Code section 2800.2), felon in possession of a firearm (Penal Code section 12021(a)(1)), discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle (Penal Code section 12034(c)), and assault with a semiautomatic firearm (Penal Code section 245(b)). The jury found personal gun-use allegations against the defendant "true." The court found "true" allegations alleging two previous "strikes" under California’s three-strikes law: a 1991 conviction for assault with a firearm and a 1991 conviction for second-degree robbery, both in Solano County. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the attempted murder charge (hanging 10-2 for guilt). The guilty verdict was handed down in Department 24 of the San Francisco Superior Court following a six-week trial in front of the Honorable Garrett Wong.
The defendant was scheduled to be sentenced on January 29, 2010, but he physically attacked his public defender during the proceeding and the court continued the sentencing.
According to evidence adduced at trial, on June 4, 2007, Lipscomb drove to San Francisco from Vallejo and was driving in the area of Townsend Street and Lusk Alley. The victim, a 55 year-old Asian man, had just parked his car and was crossing the street when Lipscomb called him over under the guise of asking for directions. As the victim leaned down to help him, Lipscomb fired three rounds from a .40 semi-automatic pistol at the victim, hitting the victim twice. Witnesses at the scene recorded the license plate number and provided police with the vehicle description.
Shortly after the shooting, field officers observed Lipsomb near the Embarcadero. After a brief car chase, which turned into a foot chase at Mission and New Montgomery streets, officers arrested Lipscomb at Jessie Street and Annie Alley. A gun was recovered from the front passenger floorboard of Lipscomb’s vehicle. SFPD Crime Scene Investigations developed a latent fingerprint from the magazine of the gun that matched Lipscomb.
In interviews with the police, Lipscomb admitted shooting his gun at an Asian man in San Francisco (although he told police that he had shot at a different Asian man, not the victim). He also told police that as he drove into San Francisco from Vallejo, he had stopped and shot his gun in Oakland. The SFPD, working with the Oakland Police Department, were able to match the ballistic characteristics of the bullets shot in Oakland with the bullets shot in San Francisco and with the gun recovered in the vehicle.
The case is the result of a thorough investigation by numerous patrol officers of the San Francisco Police Department, the San Francisco Crime Lab, and Inspectors Michael Morley and Richard Daniele of the General Works detail (Morley now of the homicide detail and Daniele now of the Special Investigations Division). Patricia Cuellar and Ana Aguilar were the victim advocates assigned to the case. Assistant District Attorney Sharon Reardon did a first-rate job prosecuting the case.
###