Man who carjacked directly after jail release sent to prison
OAKLAND » A 33-year-old man was sentenced to five years in federal prison in connection with a 2020 East Bay carjacking spree that began an hour after his release from jail.
Rocky Lee Music was sentenced Monday, minutes after pleading guilty to a carjacking in Dublin, in which he punched the driver of a Toyota Prius and sped off with the driver still clinging to a door of the moving car. The carjacking occurred within an hour of Music’s release from Santa Rita Jail on vehicle theft charges, court records show.
Music was arrested, and eventually charged federally, after he attempted a second carjacking in the San Ramon Public Library, court records show. His was one of several cases taken on by the feds after they were highlighted by the Alameda County Sheriff as “failures” of a COVID-19 response policy to release people suspected of low-level crimes from jail.
At the time of his April 2020 arrest, the Alameda County Sheriff’s office issued a news release highlighting the carjacking in what was essentially an advocacy campaign against a statewide policy to release nonviolent arrestees amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
While prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed on a five-year prison term, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said she was hesitant to accept the plea. She called Music’s crime “egregious” and asked both attorneys to convince her to accept it.
“Mr. Music, you were on lock
down mode and you were fortunate that they were trying to clear out the population, give people an opportunity not to be incarcerated … They let you out and what did you do but commit this crime?” Gonzalez Rogers said, later adding she was “struggling” with the idea of sentencing him to more time.
At the end, Gonzalez Rogers accepted the sentence but left Music with a warning. If he violated supervised release after his sentence he’d appear back before her for re-sentencing. She said she wrote the word “break” in his court file as a reminder in case that should happen.
“I gave you a break. I will not give you another. With me, you get one, do you understand?” Gonzalez Rogers said.
“Yes, ma’am,” Music said. Music’s attorney, Joyce Leavitt, said her client was high on drugs at the time of the offense and that his “serious addiction” was a root cause. She said the five years was more than twice the sentence Music has ever received during his life, and that the “substantial sentence” of five years would give him a chance to get rehabilitation and mental healthcare.
While he pleaded guilty to a federal carjacking offense Monday morning, Music disputed the prosecution contention’s that he intended to cause “death or great bodily injury” to the driver of the Prius, saying, “I may have punched him once and threw him out, I wouldn’t have beat on him though.” He later added, “I just wanna take this little five years and move on.”
Before sentencing, Music said he felt guilty for his crime and “left my wife and family down.” He said he sends his “deepest apologies” to his victims.
“I can say I’m finally proud to put the past behind me and move forward,” Music said, adding that while he didn’t know “why the feds picked up a case like mine,” he knew he would have access to better rehabilitative services than are available in the California prison system.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Lee said the fiveyear sentence was appropriate because Music indicated a willingness to plead guilty just weeks after he was charged with a federal offense, and in the interests of saving the victims the trauma of having to testify in court.