A man convicted of manslaughter in the stabbing death of a man outside a 7-Eleven store in Pacific Beach in 2019 was sentenced on Feb. 2 to seven years in state prison.
Deputy District Attorney Fred Washington asked that Desmond Alejandro Williams, 36, be sentenced to 11 years in prison for killing Sean Snellman, 40, who was stabbed four times on June 22, 2019.
The jury that heard the case acquitted Williams of first and second-degree murder and convicted him of voluntary manslaughter in 2022. Snellman punched Williams several times before he was stabbed at the store near Mission Boulevard and Grand Avenue.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Kimberlee Lagotta heard from the victim’s three sisters who testified via computers in another state. Letters from Snellman’s aunt, cousin, and his godmother were also received.
Williams was sentenced on Dec. 15, 2022, to life in prison by Judge Jeff Fraser for his convictions of aggravated mayhem and torture on another man in a baseball bat attack in 2010 near the old Qualcomm Stadium in Mission Valley.
The life sentence will run consecutive to the 7-year term. Williams will be eligible for parole on the life sentence in seven years, so he will have to serve a minimum term of 14 years, said Washington.
Snellman was apparently a stranger to Williams, but the victim in the 2010 incident was acquainted with Williams.
Lagotta ordered Williams to pay $10,570 in restitution which includes funeral costs and he was also fined $2,100. He has been in jail since 2019, so he was given credits for 1,355 days.
