OAKLAND — A Bay Area man with family ties to two recent tragedies and whose jail calls allegedly helped break open the investigation into the killing of a 1-year-old boy has been sentenced to 40 months in federal prison for possessing a rifle in his car, court records show.
Ronnie Mitchell, 28, was sentenced last month by U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, whose decision fell between the 77 months requested by prosecutors and the 30-month term requested by the defense. Mitchell pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a felon for a single AR-style firearm found in his vehicle, but prosecutors say police found an “arsenal” of other firearms in a shed behind the Oakland home where Mitchell was arrested.
Furthermore, prosecutors contend that Mitchell is a member of the San Francisco-based Eddy Rock gang, which Mitchell’s attorney denied in court filings. Mitchell was arrested in October 2021 by police who were surveilling him with intent to arrest him in connection with a prior high speed police chase, court records show. The gun was found during a search of his vehicle.
After he was jailed, he allegedly called an East Bay man and discussed the Nov. 6, 2021 rolling gun battle between members of Eddy Rock and a rival gang, which resulted in the fatal shooting of 1-year-old Jasper Wu. The young boy was driving with his family on Interstate 880 when he was struck by errant gunfire. One of the suspected gang members was also shot and wounded, police said at the time.
Mitchell has also suffered from the tragic consequences of gun violence, having lost two brothers to shootings in four years, his attorney wrote in court papers. His brother, Steven Mitchell Jr., was killed in a Vallejo shooting in September 2021. In 2023, his brother, Parris Moffett Jr., was living in a medical center after having been paralyzed in a shooting when two gunmen entered, searched the premises for Moffett, and shot him as he sat helplessly in a wheelchair, according to court records.
After his release from prison, Ronnie Mitchell hopes to join his father in Stockton and run a charter fishing company there, his lawyer, Assistant Federal Public Defender Karthik Raju, said in a sentencing memo.
“Mr. Mitchell’s story stands as a poignant testament that profound personal trauma and upheaval can steer a young person down paths that appear inescapable but are not when the proper supports are in place,” Raju wrote. “The current legal proceedings represent an inflection point, and Mr. Mitchell has committed to breaking free from the cycle of violence and loss that has haunted him since childhood.”
Prosecutors countered that Mitchell’s criminal past doesn’t paint the picture of a young man eager to change.
“That record shows that none of the prior convictions or periods in custody to this point have had a deterrent effect,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Barry wrote in a sentencing memo. “In fact, they show probation and parole revocations and continued dangerous criminal conduct.”
