24 months for San Francisco gang killer caught with a gun months after leaving prison
A San Francisco man who served 22 years for murder received another 24 months today at the city’s federal courthouse after he was busted for gun and drug possession three months after leaving prison.
Acquil Peterson’s DNA was found on a Taurus 9mm pistol and two extended magazines which were found in a lady companion’s handbag during a traffic stop in Berkeley in June last year.
He earlier pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and admitted breaching his probation terms.
Peterson was found guilty in 2008 of the VICAR murder of Joseph Hearns – after he and accomplice Dennis Cyrus tortured their victim before Cyrus executed him with a single shot to the head. The crime was undertaken at the direction of another member of San Francisco’s Page Street Mob gang.
“He messed up big time,” said U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney this afternoon.
The sentenced imposed was considerably less than that asked for by prosecutors after the judge found Peterson had not been involved in dealing the drugs with which he was found, but rather intended them for personal use, and that his possession of the gun was only “temporary”.
On September 30 2024 Petersen was spotted by a Berkeley meter maid standing outside of a car that had hit a street sign – and both he and his lady companion appeared to be drunk. A search by police uncovered a loaded unregistered gun and ammunition in the woman’s purse – which DNA testing later linked to Petersen. He had heroin and cocaine on him and there was an empty tequila bottle on the car floor.
The police were surprised to learn Petersen was on probation after a federal murder conviction and that he had been released just three months earlier after spending more than two decades in prison.
Petersen and fellow Page Street Gang member Dennis Cyrus murdered Joseph Hearns in 2002 in revenge for a perceived slight felt by gang boss Lester Hogan in San Francisco’s Western Addition.
The pair forced their way into the victim’s apartment and forced him to strip naked before Petersen put the barrel of an AK-47 in his mouth and beat him. Hearns was made to walk down the street and lie down on the ground. Cyrus then used a handgun to shoot him in the back of the head, killing him instantly. Petersen later bragged to others that he “was vicious with an AK.”
He was convicted in 2008 of Violent Crime in the Aid of Racketeeting – Murder and subsequently served more than two decades in prison.
“At this point the defendant has spent nearly half of his life in federal prison,” wrote assistant U.S. attorney jean Fundakowski in her sentencing memorandum. “It is unclear what punishment can deter the defendant from committing crime, but it is clear that a substantial prison sentence is necessary to protect the public and promote respect for the law.”
She invited the court to impose a total sentence of 46 months’ imprisonment.
“He royally screwed up here there is little doubt,” wrote Petersen’s attorney Elizabeth Falk, “but he should not be punished more harshly for the instant offense under the presumption that he is the same 19-year-old boy who committed a heinous crime in 2001.”
Today in courtroom 7 of San Francisco federal courthouse Judge Chesney sentenced Peterson to 24 months’ imprisonment – a sentence that will see him released in approximately three months.
“This is someone who did commit a very, very violent crime and was involved with a violent gang,” said Chesney. “It was however very long time ago.”
“He was exceedlingly young at the time and he is now an older person than he was.
“I just don’t see him coming back,” she added, expressing her confidence in his plans for after his release that she anticipated would not see him returning to court.
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