Fresno man sentenced for shooting, killing friend after "playing" with gun

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A mother's heartbreak filled a Fresno County courtroom Wednesday as she addressed the judge and called for justice for her son.

"The loss of my son has left me with an unbearable void in my life. The pain and grief I feel are overwhelming. Jason was a kind, humble, good-hearted individual," Marybeth Lim said.

Lim says Jason Vitug died at the hands of Jacob King. Her son took a bullet straight to his chest inside a Northwest Fresno home on Gregory and Cromwell avenues in May 2022.

Witnesses tell Action News that King was playing with a laser sight on a gun when he shot Jason. The victim's mother says he should not have had it in the first place.

"Why are you carrying a ghost gun? For what?" Lim said. "Were you planning to hurt someone or kill someone, possibly not for anyone to know?"

The men were six years apart in age but close friends. They even went on a family trip together.

The victim's sister says Vitug invited the man who would go on to kill him.

"Do you remember our family trip to Disneyland?" Andrea Lim said. "Did you know, Jacob, that Jason begged my mom for you to go on that trip?"

Prosecutors charged the crime as voluntary manslaughter. It is a lesser charge than murder, and it means the crime lacked "malice," a key element for the higher charge.

King first denied the crime but changed his plea last month, agreeing not to fight it any longer and avoiding a trial where more evidence could have been revealed.

"This was not an intentional doing, and I hope that one day you guys can forgive me," King said.

He apologized just moments before he learned his fate. The judge's hands were tied as he sentenced the man to three years in prison.

"As I understand it, this is a three-year stipulated term," Judge Mark Cullers said.

Attorneys on both sides agreed to the three-year term. King already has credit for nearly half of the sentence due to time spent in jail.

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