A gang member who fatally shot a member of his own gang in broad daylight, because the victim supposedly wasn’t following orders from gang leaders, was sentenced Thursday to 50 years to life in state prison.
Aron Franklin, 21, was convicted of first-degree murder in the Jan. 3, 2013, killing of 20-year-old Julius Batiste in the Lincoln Park area of San Diego.
“It was a coward act,” the victim’s mother said in a letter read by Superior Court Judge Frederic Link.
Link said Franklin killed one of his “homies” for “no reason whatsoever.”
Deputy District Attorney Paul Reizen said Franklin walked up to the victim at an apartment complex on 50th Street just before 2:45 p.m. and shot him four times in the head. Batiste died at the scene.
Thursday in court, Reizen called the attack “brazen,” in which Franklin exhibited a “complete disregard for human life.”
Reizen said the shooting was witnessed by six to eight people. Police identified Franklin as the shooter and he was arrested two days later.
— City News Service