Press release: People v. Joshua Gilmore

Contact: Scott Divine Nick Rossi
Deputy District Attorney Federal Bureau of Investigation
874-8685 481-9110

Re: PEOPLE V. JOSHUA GILMORE
Case No. 00F05191

Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully announced today that a Sacramento County jury convicted Joshua Mark Gilmore of two counts of willful, deliberate and premeditated attempted murder. The jury also found to be true allegations that the crimes were committed on behalf of a criminal street gang known as the Skinheads.

On July 3, 1997, sixteen year old Jeff Almon was walking to his friend's house to work on a skateboard ramp. The defendant and another Skinhead chased the victim into a church parking lot at Palm and Dewey because they thought that he was a SHARP (Skinhead Against Racial Prejudice). The victim was subjected to professional wrestling moves, such as the suplex and the backbreaker. He was body slammed onto the gravel parking lot, and punched and kicked repeatedly in the head, even after he was knocked unconscious. While the other Skinhead sat on the victim's back and pulled his head back, the defendant kicked the victim in the throat. He was later found unconscious in his own vomit by church members leaving that evening's service. There were no eyewitnesses to the attack. The victim suffered a traumatic brain injury and was hospitalized for a number of weeks.

On November 2, 1997, the defendant and a group of Skinheads converged on the Cyber Café, a coffee shop formerly located on Sunrise Boulevard. They were there to confront SHARP's. The defendant stabbed Andrew Harris 19 to 20 times. Mr. Harris survived the attack. He was not a SHARP.

The cases against the defendant were investigated and prosecuted through collaborative effort among the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Attorney's Office and the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office. Sacramento County Sheriff's Sgt. Milo Fitch and FBI Agents Gary Schaaf and Andrea Dobranski worked together to investigate and solve the cases. Sgt. Fitch testified extensively at trial regarding Skinhead gang activity in Sacramento. He gave his opinion that the defendant was a Skinhead and that the crimes were gang-related.

Mr. Gilmore will be sentenced before the Honorable Ronald B. Robie on August 7, 2001 at 3:00 p.m. in Department 41. He is facing two life terms for the crimes.