By Jose Medina
SACRAMENTO – Defendant Jamaal Gooding—who shot someone heckling him at a McDonald’s restaurant five year years ago on Halloween—was hoping something good would happen Friday in Sacramento Court Dept. 19 at a probation hearing. It didn’t.
The hearing was overseen by Judge Patrick Marlette. Gooding was represented by Assistant Public Defender Amanda R. Founi and Jesse R. Saucedo was the Deputy District Attorney.
Jamaal Gooding was charged with attempted first degree murder, and convicted by a jury in June of 2019. He’s spent the last nearly 18 months awaiting a probation hearing. He finally got the hearing but not probation—Judge Marlette sentenced him Friday to 25 years to life.
On October 31, 2015 Gooding was picking up food at a McDonald’s with his cousin when he was approached by the victim. The victim provoked Gooding by making derogatory statements on the stature 
of Gooding’s cousin. The defendant then proceeded to shoot the victim three times outside the McDonald’s restaurant.
Founi defended her client’s character by mentioning the McDonald’s video recording, noting that “we saw the defendant keep waving the victim off and sometimes not even responding so the defendant was not out looking for trouble.”
Founi pointed out that the defendant was in no way going out of his way to cause harm but was instead provoked to act violently that night.
In an effort to appeal to the judge’s better nature, Founi argued that “this sentence is going to define my client. He has spent most of his 20’s in custody, if you can sentence him to the minimum that at least gives him a chance to do what he needs to do, to earn his release.”
Prosecutor Saucedo called for the court to look at the facts of the incident, instead of the defendant’s character and intentions at the night of the incident, maintaining that “had that gun been more powerful, had that bullet been more lethal, this single defining moment could have been the end of the victim’s life.”
Founi’s insistence on the court to focus on the defendant’s character was refuted by Saucedo. He reminded the court that the defendant had failed to take responsibility over the incident during his jury trial. Saucedo mentioned that the defendant put the blame on his cousin for bringing the firearm to the location of the incident.
Despite reading Gooding’s character letters, Judge Marlette ruled that the defendant is not eligible for probation and is therefore sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
The court said that the defendant put many people in danger by shooting a firearm in a public area and that, despite the victim provoking him continuously, the defendant had no right to act in a way that could’ve caused someone’s death.
Jose graduated from UC Davis with a BA in Political Science and has interned for the California State Legislature. He is from Rocklin, CA.
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