He wrote an apology letter, reflecting on his poor decisions that day, but insisting he didn’t know the woman he was with had a gun in her purse.
SAN FRANCISCO — A Bay Area man has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for possessing a loaded gun three months after he was released from prison in a racketeering murder case, court records show.
Aquil Peterson, 41, pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, in connection with a Sept. 30, 2024 traffic stop in Berkeley where a gun was found inside the purse of a woman he was with. But Peterson’s DNA was later found on the pistol and magazine, and he admitted in an apology letter to handling the weapon, court records show. Police say Peterson was driving drunk in Berkeley, asked a parking attendant if he could park “here” after rolling the car into a parking sign, and said in his apology letter he didn’t even notice the police until moments before he was arrested. “My actions that day in Berkeley were inexcusable … I fully understand why I was arrested, but I’m being 100 percent truthful when I say that firearm that was found in purse was owned by , who had it cause of all the domestic violence she’d been through over the years,” Peterson wrote.Oakland gambling shack security guard avoids jail for having gun that was used in homicide weeks earlierThree months earlier, Peterson had been released from prison after serving a 22-year sentence for racketeering and involvement with a San Francisco gang. Prosecutors say he played a role in the 2002 killing of Joseph Hearns, using an AK-47 to kidnap and strip Hearns before another gang member, Dennis Cryus, shot Hearns in the head. Cyrus was later given three consecutive life sentences. Peterson’s lawyer said in court records the fateful day will forever follow Peterson, who was a teenaged adult at the time. “Once Dennis Cyrus made that decision, Mr. Peterson too would forever be known as a murderer regardless of the fact that he did not pull the trigger and if he had been alone, no trigger would have been pulled,” Assistant Federal Public Defender Elizabeth Falk wrote in a sentencing memo. “He learned the hard lesson at 19 years old that you are no better than the company you keep in those circumstances, and he paid the full price for both his own crimes and Cyrus’ horrible action.” U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney sentenced Peterson on March 11. He gets credit for the time he has been in jail since his January 2025 indictment. ‘You allowed her to suffer and die’: Mother of Hayward girl found decomposing in bathroom is sentenced to prisonEl Niño is on the way: What that means for California’s weatherMotorcyclist dies in crash on Highway 4 A girl fled Oregon foster care to find her mom. Four days later she was being trafficked on Vallejo streets, feds say A girl fled Oregon foster care to find her mom. Four days later she was being trafficked on Vallejo streets, feds sayOfficers violate probation of wounded man who survived Oakland mass shooting
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