After convicted murderer Kori Ali Muhammad withdrew his insanity plea on Friday, the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office announced that it would no longer seek the death penalty against him.
As a result, “Muhammad is expected to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole,” the DA’s office said in a news release.
Muhammad, 42, is scheduled for sentencing on May 22 in Fresno County Superior Court.
Jurors Convict Muhammad on Wednesday
On Wednesday, jury found Muhammad guilty of the first-degree murder of David Jackson. The jury also convicted the accused of second-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Carl Williams III, Zackary Randalls, and Mark Gassett in a race-related rampage.
Muhammad, a previously convicted felon, additionally was convicted of attempted murder in the shootings of Oscar Menjivar, Stephen Walter, Michael Flores, and Mark Greer.
Muhammad’s murder spree generated international headlines three years ago.
Security Video Captured the Killing of Williams
It started on April 13, 2017, when he shot and killed Williams, a 25-year-old security guard at a Fresno Motel 6 with a .357 magnum revolver.
In a recorded confession to investigators that was played at his trial, Muhammad said he shot Williams and tried to kill another guard, Menjivar, because he felt he had been disrespected when he went to visit a friend.
A security camera recording showed Muhammad coming up behind Williams and shooting him.
“It starts taking its toll on you and you get fed up with the racism,” Muhammad said. “You get tired of letting things slide.”
Muhammad Targeted White Men
Upon learning from a television news report that police were looking for him in connection with the killing of Williams, he targeted a PG&E truck in which Randalls, 34, was a passenger in downtown Fresno five days later.
“When I walked up to the truck, I saw a Mexican driver and a white guy,” Muhammad said. “I didn’t want to target the driver because he was Mexican so I shot the white dude.”
Muhammad fired 17 shots in less than a minute in his downtown killing spree — killing Randalls, Gassett, 37, and Jackson, 58. He also attempted to shoot and kill, Walter, Flores, and Greer.
(Associated Press contributed to this report.)
