Man sentenced to 6 years in prison for 2021 shooting
After two co-defendants were sentenced to life in prison for a 2021 shooting death, the third co-defendant was sentenced to six years in prison Thursday after pleading no contest to involuntary manslaughter.
Christian Gaines, 21, pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter in March and his charges for first-degree murder and shooting at an occupied vehicle were dismissed.
Gaines was previously tried for the case, but a hung jury led to a mistrial. His defense attorney, Tony Lidgett, said that in the last trial, 11 out of the 12 jurors found Gaines not guilty.
Gaines was charged for the killing of Justin Griffin Jr. in November 2021 in the 3300 block of Wible Road with two co-defendants, David Earlvon Gray, 21, and Dimitris Devon King, 30.
At Thursday’s sentencing in Kern County Superior Court, Griffin’s great-aunt, Cindy Switzer, gave a victim impact statement on behalf of the family. She said she was really upset because a sentence of six years means nothing.
“Six years is not going to be enough for the life that they took,” Switzer said to the court. “I just regret that it was not more.”
Gaines was out of custody prior to the sentencing and arrived with his family. Switzer and Gaines’ family clashed several times during and after the sentence was delivered. Both families were warned by Kern County Sheriff’s deputies not to speak to each other.
Both Gray and King were found guilty of first-degree murder and shooting at an occupied vehicle. In March, Gray was sentenced to 15 years in prison and life in prison without parole and King was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.
Gray and King’s attorneys both argued for a mistrial due to a conflict with a juror, but Judge Charles Brehmer did not grant the new trial.