Man Convicted In Fatal Shooting Of Toddler, Man In Bay Area: DA

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — A 42-year-old man has been found guilty in connection with the fatal shooting of a man and a toddler in the Bay Area 20 years ago, according to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office.

A jury convicted Joseph Stevens of two counts of first-degree murder, each with allegations of personal use of a firearm causing great bodily injury or death, assault with a firearm with an allegation of personal use of a firearm and the multiple murder special circumstance, prosecutors said.

He had been previously convicted in 2007 of the same charges, but a federal district court overturned it, according to prosecutors. Stevens was then retried again in 2018.

Prosecutors say Stevens gunned down a man and a two-year-old boy on Oct. 14, 2005.

The man, a woman and her two-year-old son had just arrived at a family member's home when Stevens approached them and fired 18 shots from a high-powered rifle at their vehicle, prosecutors said. All three were struck by gunfire.

The man died immediately from his wounds, according to authorities, but the two-year-old boy was taken to a local hospital, where he later died from his injuries. The boy's mom was also wounded in the shooting but survived, prosecutors said.

“There is nothing more retraumatizing for victims than to have a conviction overturned after 16 years and having to relive the horrifying events of the crime all over again,” District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in a statement Monday. “I hope this verdict brings a renewed sense of justice for this family and further honors the two lives that were lost, including a two-year-old little boy."