Defendant Sentenced for Murder During Robbery

DATE: February 25, 2022

CASE: John Meskell (Case #20FE000293)

PROSECUTOR: Deputy District Attorney Kristen Andersen, Homicide Unit

The Honorable Ernest Sawtelle sentenced John Meskell to life in prison without the possibility of parole.  On December 1, 2021, a jury convicted Meskell of the first-degree murder of Cristian Anton.  The jury also found true the special circumstance that the murder was committed during the commission of a robbery.

On February 8, 2010, Meskell and another suspect forced entry into the home of Cristian Anton and his brother in an attempt to rob them. Meskell and the other suspect were armed with loaded firearms. During the commission of the robbery, a struggle over a shotgun ensued and the victim was shot and killed. The case went cold until December 2017, when the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Cold Case Unit reopened the investigation. With advances in DNA technology, the zip ties used to bind the victim were re-analyzed by the District Attorney’s Crime Lab and Meskell’s DNA was located on one of the zip ties found at the crime scene. Meskell was arrested in January 2020.  Two of the firearms used in the crime were recovered and unregistered. One firearm was never recovered.

This case would not have been solved without the incredible passion and hard work of retired detectives Michaela Links and Christopher Joachim from the Sacramento Sheriff’s Office and Michael Mullaly from the Sacramento Police Department.