In late July, a Sacramento jury found Anton Paris guilty of first-degree murder with special circumstances for the shooting death of 27-year-old Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Stasyuk and the attempted murder of Deputy Julie Robertson in September 2018.
However, according to Courthouse News Service, during the penalty phase, the jury couldn’t agree on whether to sentence the 44-year-old Paris to death or life in prison. One of Paris’s attorneys told Courthouse News the final vote was 10 – 2 for death.
Paris’s confrontation with sheriff’s deputies began on September 17 at the Pep Boys auto repair shop in Rancho Cordova. Employees at the Pep Boys had called law enforcement after Paris entered the store and “became agitated and began pacing around the store in an aggressive manner while making blatant threatening remarks….knocking things off shelves and saying he was going to kill everyone in the store,” according to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office. As the deputies entered the store, Paris ran out, and when Stasyuk followed, Paris fired at him, hitting him once in the torso and once in the head. Paris then shot Robertson, hitting her in the arm. Robertson shot Paris twice.
Stasyuk was pronounced dead at the hospital, but Robertson survived.
At trial, attorneys for Paris presented evidence that Paris had been hospitalized because of mental health challenges four times between 2000 and when the shooting occurred and was experiencing “a mental health episode” at the Pep Boys, Courthouse News reported.
Lawyers are scheduled to return to court on November 15, at which time prosecutors are expected to announce whether they will continue to seek the death penalty for Paris.