Two California men will spend the rest of their lives in prison for gunning down a young father as he strapped his 2-year-old son into a car seat, wounding the toddler in the face during what authorities describe as a revenge attack tied to an unrelated murder years earlier.
Isileli Mahe, 34, and John Talia Paasi, 33, were sentenced to life without parole after a jury found them guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and lying in wait in connection with the October 2020 killing of 30-year-old Ueta Muasika, according to officials.
A judge handed down the sentences after rejecting requests from both men for a new trial. Several relatives of the victim, including his son who survived the shooting and is now 8 years old, gave statements during the hearing.
Investigators said the two men waited outside Muasika’s San Mateo home before opening fire as he buckled his son into the car. Fourteen rounds were fired, killing Muasika instantly and striking the child once in the face.
Officials said the attack was retaliation for the 2019 arson death of one defendant’s 85-year-old grandmother — a crime authorities confirmed Muasika had no connection to. The person actually responsible for that earlier killing was a relative of the victim and is already serving a lengthy prison sentence.
It took investigators nearly a year and a half to track down and arrest the two suspects, who had fled to opposite sides of the country before being taken into custody.
Prosecutors said they could not determine which of the two men fired the fatal shots, but both were convicted under a law that holds accomplices equally responsible for a killing.
The lead prosecutor called the case a six-year fight for justice, noting how difficult it was to locate the suspects after they went into hiding.
One defendant’s attorney said his client plans to appeal the conviction.
The victim’s widow said the verdict finally gave her the ability to tell her son the men responsible will never walk free again.