Overview
- Antoine Watson, 25, was sentenced Thursday to eight years for involuntary manslaughter, received credit for about five years already served, and was released to probation.
- Judge Linda Colfax said prison would likely have a poor impact on Watson and that probation allows closer monitoring than parole with the threat of serving the suspended term for any violation.
- Probation terms include weekly therapy, a court stay-away zone around the Anza Vista area where the family lives, and residence with his mother in Hayward under supervision.
- Vicha Ratanapakdee’s daughter called the punishment deeply disappointing, and District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said justice was not served by the sentence.
- A jury in January convicted Watson of involuntary manslaughter and assault, acquitted him of murder and elder abuse, and found the attack unusually cruel against a vulnerable victim in a case that fueled Stop Asian Hate even as prosecutors did not bring hate-crime charges due to proof standards.