19-year-old man killed homeless woman with pellet gun in Southern California Sentenced He was sentenced Thursday to five years and eight months in state prison.
William Innes Plead guilty He was charged with manslaughter in the May death of Annette Parshall, 68, who lived on the streets of San Diego and was nicknamed “Granny Annie.” The case sparked national outrage after prosecutors reported that Inez had texted a group chat saying she was going “homeless hunting.”
Innes’ accomplice, 19-year-old Ryan Hopkins, pleaded guilty last year to aiding and abetting assault with a deadly weapon. 1 year imprisonmentPolice and prosecutors say Hopkins drove Inez to where Parshall was camping, where Inez fired multiple shots at the woman with a pellet gun. Hitting Parshall was shot in the head, leg and torso. Parshall, who was well known in the neighborhood, was found unconscious and taken to a hospital, where doctors determined she had been shot. She died a few days later.
Parshall’s daughter, Brandi Nasworth, who attended the sentencing hearing, said in an interview Friday that she felt the five-year sentence was appropriate. “It’s impossible to make sense of this situation. It will never really be closed and nothing will make sense. It was the wrong decision.” [Innes] But it shouldn’t affect his whole life.
“My mother always said that two wrongs don’t make a right,” she continued, “and even though I wish the worst for him, I just can’t process it anymore.”
Nasworth traveled to San Diego from where she lives in Louisiana to tell her mother’s story at the hearing. “I want to make sure she’s not forgotten,” she said.
In a victim impact statement, Nasworth said her mother’s friends called her the “Queen of Serra Mesa,” after the San Diego neighborhood. “She had a great sense of humor, an infectious smile and was a human library of San Diego history and stories.”
She also described how her mother helped people on the streets, such as giving an umbrella to a homeless young woman during a rainstorm. “A man ran out of gas in front of the sidewalk where my mother was sleeping, and my mother gave him some of his food money so he could get home. And she was grateful for all the little things people did for her.”
After her death, 24 people attended a memorial service and laid flowers at the site where she was killed. “She was a human being, not something to be used as target practice. Her life mattered to me, my children and her friends,” Nazworth said.
Ms Nasworth told the defendant: “Words cannot express how angry and sad I am, but as a mother I do not seek revenge, nor do I take any joy in the harm you have caused yourself or your family. My only prayer and hope is that my mother did not suffer and die for no reason, and that the only good that can come from this senseless tragedy is that you use it to become a better person. She may have just been a dirty homeless girl to you, but she was still my mother and a grandmother to my children.”
She also recalled her mother’s many hardships, including losing her home and possessions, suffering the death of a close friend, the sudden death of a lover, and worsening arthritis, all of which contributed to her mother’s alcoholism. Nasworth said, “Alcohol use disorder is a serious disease… like cancer. Would you shoot a cancer patient with a pellet gun for fun?”
Nasworth added that they had tried many times to get her mother to live with them in Louisiana, but “she couldn’t imagine leaving the area she grew up in, and we couldn’t force her. She had lots of friends and the area was a remnant of the happy life she remembered.”
She also noted that local agencies had been unable to help her mother find suitable housing.
The lawyers for both boys tried in court to shift the blame to their accomplices, but Innes’ lawyer Said He said Thursday that his client is “being appropriately punished.”
In court, Inez told the victim’s family, “I can’t change what happened, but I wish I could. That’s the only thing I can say to make you guys feel better about what happened, which will probably never happen,” according to NBC 7 San Diego.
