and wires
SAN FRANCISCO —
A member of the Mongols motorcycle gang was sentenced in federal court in San Francisco Tuesday to life in prison without parole for murdering a member of the rival Hells Angels motorcycle club in the city in 2008.
Christopher Ablett, 39, of Modesto, was found guilty in February of murdering Mark "Papa" Guardado, president of the San Francisco Hells Angels chapter, by shooting and stabbing him during a fight outside a bar in the Mission District of the city on Sept. 2, 2008.
A jury in the court of U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg convicted Ablett of four federal charges: murder in aid of racketeering, assault with a deadly weapon, using a gun in a violent crime and using a gun in a murder.
U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag said testimony at the trial indicated that Ablett, armed with a revolver and a 12-inch military knife, came to San Francisco to visit a friend.
Haag said that when Guardado heard that Ablett was in the bar, he came to the street outside the bar and approached Ablett, according to witnesses at the trial.
A fight then broke out and Ablett stabbed Guardado four times and shot him twice, Haag said.
Ablett was sentenced by Seeborg, who ordered him to serve two concurrent life terms plus one consecutive life term. There is no parole from federal life sentences, according to Haag.
Haag said in a statement, "The defendant killed a complete stranger for no reason other than his membership in a rival motorcycle gang.
"This sentence should send a clear message that there is a heavy price to pay for engaging in such a senseless act of violence," she said.
Christopher Ablett, 39, of Modesto, was found guilty in February of murdering Mark "Papa" Guardado, president of the San Francisco Hells Angels chapter, by shooting and stabbing him during a fight outside a bar in the Mission District of the city on Sept. 2, 2008.
A jury in the court of U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg convicted Ablett of four federal charges: murder in aid of racketeering, assault with a deadly weapon, using a gun in a violent crime and using a gun in a murder.
U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag said testimony at the trial indicated that Ablett, armed with a revolver and a 12-inch military knife, came to San Francisco to visit a friend.
Haag said that when Guardado heard that Ablett was in the bar, he came to the street outside the bar and approached Ablett, according to witnesses at the trial.
A fight then broke out and Ablett stabbed Guardado four times and shot him twice, Haag said.
Ablett was sentenced by Seeborg, who ordered him to serve two concurrent life terms plus one consecutive life term. There is no parole from federal life sentences, according to Haag.
Haag said in a statement, "The defendant killed a complete stranger for no reason other than his membership in a rival motorcycle gang.
"This sentence should send a clear message that there is a heavy price to pay for engaging in such a senseless act of violence," she said.
