He wanted to kill a gang rival. Instead he shot innocent victim. Now he’s going to prison
A Fresno man was sentenced Tuesday to 24 years in prison for his role in the fatal shooting of a teen in Fresno’s Tower District in February 2014.
Jacob Abston, wearing shackles and a red jail jumpsuit, stood silently next to defense attorney Linden Lindahl when his punishment was announced in Fresno Superior Court.
Abston’s mother, Christi Ellison, cried uncontrollably.
Ellison told Judge James Kelley that her son was innocent. But when Kelley asked Abston if he wanted to withdraw his plea, Abston declined, indicating that he was ready to accept responsibility for his actions.
Fresno police said Abston is a Bulldog gang member who shot Kevin Bonton Jr. on Feb. 27, 2014, near Olive and Wishon avenues. Bonton was rushed to Community Regional Medical Center, where he died a week later.
Abston has been in jail since his arrest a month after the shooting.
Initially charged with murder, Abston faced up to 50 years to life in prison if convicted at trial.
Instead, he pleaded no contest on Sept. 21 this year to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. He also admitted to personally firing a gun and admitted to doing the shooting for the benefit or at the direction of a criminal street gang.
At the time of the killing, Chief Jerry Dyer said Bonton was an innocent victim of gang violence.
In court on Tuesday, Lindahl said Abston didn’t intend to shoot Bonton. Lindahl said Bonton and his associates were riding bicycles and were armed with machetes when Bonton was shot.
Lindahl said he could have argued that Abston fired a gun in self-defense or in defense of another. But Lindahl said he and Abston made a “tactical decision” to accept the plea agreement, a move that upset Ellison.
“They are committing fraud on the court,” Ellison told the judge while accusing Lindahl and prosecutor William “Billy” Terrence of “undermining the judicial process.” In a letter to the judge, Ellison contended a witness saw the shooting and said Abston didn’t do it.
But Terrence said several witnesses placed Abston at the scene of the crime and one of them said Abston pulled the trigger.
According to Terrence, Abston and seven to 10 of his associates went to a home, knocked on the door and demanded that a rival come out. The rival, Bonton and another associate left the home on bicycles to avoid a confrontation, Terrence said.
Though Bonton and his friends had machetes, they were far away from Abston and his associates when Abston decided to fire a handgun from 60 yards away, hoping to hit the rival, Terrence said. Instead, the bullet hit Bonton, who was not affiliated with a gang and was visiting friends in Fresno, Terrence said.
Lindahl called the shooting a tragedy because Abston had no prior criminal record. Abston also surrendered once he learned police were looking for him, Lindahl said.
“This was not calculated or a cold-blooded act,” Lindahl told Kelley, the judge.
Kelley noted for the record that Abston had been respectful in court throughout the nearly five years of court hearings. But he said the shooting was “a despicable act” that amounted to “a great level of violence.”
This story was originally published November 27, 2018 at 4:23 PM with the headline "He wanted to kill a gang rival. Instead he shot innocent victim. Now he’s going to prison."
