A Pacific Beach man who shot his roommate to death was sentenced on June 26 to 28 years to life in prison, including extra years for being a felon in possession of a firearm.<\/p>\n
Richard Kyle Herrman, 34, didn\u2019t show much reaction to the sentence while sitting in blue jail clothes and sporting a ponytail. A jury convicted him Jan. 28 of second-degree murder of Gabriel Fergus, 51.<\/p>\n
Herrman\u2019s mother, Claire Herrman, wept as she sat in her wheelchair, and she put her face in her hands after she heard the sentence.<\/p>\n
Fergus was shot in the chest at 10:10 p.m. on Jan. 26, 2025. The eight-man, four-woman jury also convicted Herrman of possession of a firearm by a drug user.<\/p>\n
Fergus, his father, and four others lived with Herrman in the 1600 block of Chalcedony Street, but only Herrman and his father had keys to the condo. Fergus and the others would jump the fence and then ring the buzzer, and people testified that someone always let them inside.<\/p>\n
Herrman claimed he killed Fergus in self-defense and that he was afraid of Fergus, who caused problems in the condo. When he was asked why he didn\u2019t call the police about Fergus, he replied: \u201cThe drugs are good.\u201d <\/p>\n
He claimed Fergus brought drugs to the condo, and if he called the police, that would implicate him in drug possession.<\/p>\n
Deputy District Attorney Gabriella DiCaprio unsuccessfully urged San Diego Superior Court Judge Aaron Katz to impose a consecutive term of 25 years to the 15-year-to-life term for second-degree murder for the gun enhancement of using a firearm in a homicide.<\/p>\n
Katz said 25 years is too long a punishment for the gun enhancement, but he did add a 10-year term. \u201cSome punishment is appropriate,\u201d said Katz.<\/p>\n
Fergus\u2019 mother, Deborah Chase Roberts, 76, of Florida, read a letter from her computer in Florida, and told Katz she could not attend the sentencing.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy son was born with a kind heart. I loved him throughout his life,\u201d said Roberts. \u201cWith Gabriel\u2019s murder, we are forever changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The judge cited the letter by Fergus\u2019 mother as an illustration of how the case \u201cillustrates how drugs lead to loss of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Katz imposed an additional 3-year term for Herrman\u2019s conviction of possession of a firearm by a felon. Herrman acknowledged to jurors that he had been convicted of felonies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only person Mr. Herrman should blame is himself,\u201d said Katz.<\/p>\n
Herrman\u2019s attorney, Andrew Feaster, unsuccessfully asked that the gun enhancement and gun possession punishment be stricken, saying \u201cwe believe this was full self-defense.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour honor, there is no way to say how sorry I am to the family,\u201d said Herrman. \u201cI know nothing I can say can bring him back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prosecutor asked for a 43-year sentence. \u201cHe was prohibited from owning firearms. At no point did he called police. He is at risk to public safety,\u201d said DiCaprio.<\/p>\n
Katz gave Herrman credit for 514 days in jail and fined him $10,210.<\/p>\n
With his sentence of 28 years to life at age 34, it is estimated his first eligibility for parole might be in his early 60s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Pacific Beach man who shot his roommate to death was sentenced on June 26 to 28 years…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":913898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,24152,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-913897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-pacific-beach","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116866815882796326","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=913897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/913898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=913897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=913897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=913897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}