DATE: August 6, 2019
CASE: Keymontae Lindsey (Juvenile Case #136177 / #16FE003353)
PROSECUTOR: Deputy District Attorney Casey Newton, Homicide Unit
Keymontae Lindsey was convicted in Juvenile Court of the premeditated first-degree murder of Jaulon “J.J.” Clavo and was found to have personally discharged a firearm causing J.J. Clavo’s death. Lindsey was also convicted of premeditated attempted murder and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle. The Court found that the crimes were perpetrated to benefit the Strawberry Manor Bloods, a criminal street gang.
On November 13, 2015, J.J. Clavo was driving to Grant High School for a football game with four of his friends in the car. As they came to a stop at an intersection in the Strawberry Manor neighborhood, an armed suspect walked up to the car and fired five rounds into the passenger compartment. J.J. and his front seat passenger were both struck by gunfire. In a panic, the remaining passengers moved J.J. to the backseat and drove to Grant High School seeking medical assistance. J.J. was transported to UCD Medical Center for treatment, but ultimately died of gunshot wounds to the neck and abdomen. The front passenger sustained a gunshot wound to the arm that was non-life-threatening.
The next day, Sacramento police conducted surveillance in the Strawberry Manor neighborhood. They observed a Strawberry Manor Gangster Blood member get into a vehicle with multiple other subjects, including Keymontae Lindsey. A vehicle stop was conducted and during a probation search, officers located a loaded 9 mm handgun under the seat in front of where Lindsey was sitting. Lindsey was arrested for possession of a concealed firearm, carrying a loaded firearm in a public place and felony minor in possession of a firearm. Testing of the firearm, conducted by the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Crime Laboratory, revealed it matched the spent shell casings collected from the shooting scene and was the same firearm used to kill J.J.
Lindsey was 15 years old at the time of the murder. The case was directly filed in adult court in February 2016. In November 2016, voters passed Proposition 57, which eliminated the District Attorney’s ability to directly file cases against minors in adult court and required the Juvenile Court to hold transfer hearings before minors could be tried in adult court. In January 2017, the District Attorney requested the Juvenile Court hold a transfer hearing in order to have Lindsey treated as an adult. In October of 2018, the Juvenile Court found that Lindsey was not amenable for Juvenile Court treatment and should be tried as an adult. However, during these proceedings the California Legislature enacted Senate Bill 1391 which became effective in January 2019. Senate Bill 1391 eliminated the ability to try any defendant who was 14 or 15 years-old as an adult, regardless of the severity of the crime. The Sacramento District Attorney’s Office appealed this case to the Third District Court of Appeals and ultimately to the California Supreme Court. The California Supreme Court ordered Lindsey be treated as a juvenile and returned to Juvenile Court with trial to begin in July 2019.
Because Lindsey was a minor at the time of the crime, the passage of Senate Bill 1391 means he will be released from custody no later than his 25th birthday. Sentencing is set for August 19, 2019, at 1:30 p.m. in Department 20 before the Honorable Michael Sweet.
