Bay Area man gets 25 years in prison for 2018 fatal shooting of girlfriend

At the end of a six-year-old case, a 30-year-old Vacaville man convicted in 2023 of shooting and killing his girlfriend multiple times in a Vacaville garage told the court, his statement ringing with familiarity . on other murder convictions, “I can't say anything that will bring Samantha back.”

Chained at the waist and legs, Gage Harold Pontarelli, sitting at the defense table in Department 11 of Solano County Superior Court in Fairfield, added: “I wish I could go back in time and change my actions. »

Judge William J. Pendergast, first noting changes in state sentencing laws, then said, “I can give no sentence that will ease the pain” of parents and loved ones who are still grieving the death of Samantha Jack, 22, of Elk Grove, deceased. in the early morning hours of July 22.

Pontarelli then handed down the sentence: 25 years to life and suspended an additional sentence of 25 years to life, saying, “I do not condone the use of a firearm.” »

Looking directly at Pontarelli and defense attorney Matthew Siroka, the judge noted that the law requires that one day Pontarelli receive a parole hearing and that if he “takes responsibility for his crime, he can be released on parole. But he could also stay in prison for the rest of his life.”

Pontarelli received 2,146 days of credit — or nearly six years — for time served at Stanton Correctional Facility in Fairfield and returns for a restitution hearing in the coming days at the Justice Center in Fairfield.

In addition to a motion for a new trial, which Pendergast denied after an hour of arguments and counterarguments from Siroka and Assistant District Attorney Bill Ainsworth, the sentencing hearing included a dozen victim impact statements .

Tearful and trying to catch his breath as he sat next to Ainsworth, Brent Jack, Samantha's father, began his comments by acknowledging the previous 11 statements, saying they “brought back memories of my girl”.

He said her testimony during the three-week trial which begins in December 2022 “portrayed her as some sort of psychotic devil”.

Jack also acknowledged his own deep feelings that have arisen within him over the past six years, adding that he realized “how desperately helpless I am – I can't stop the pain” that he and his family continue to experience. to feel.

He questioned some of Siroka's claims about his daughter, statements made during several days of hearings for a retrial. Jack also said he and his family were “not looking for revenge”, but added: “We are all desperate to know what really happened that night.” »

Recalling some audio recordings heard during the trial, Jack said his daughter's last words were “No!” No!”

“I have a picture of what my daughter looked like at that time,” he said.

Trial testimony showed Pontarelli did not administer first aid and left the garage after the shooting, but he called Vacaville police dispatchers.

Pontarelli, he said, “left her to die alone, like a dog by the side of the road. It's hard to forgive someone who doesn't seem to want to be forgiven.

Jack wondered why Pontarelli ended up shooting his daughter, given her parents' positive, straightforward behavior focused on “hard work and success.”

“I don’t want to see him sitting here,” he said of Pontarelli, who, dressed in a striped prison jumpsuit, remained expressionless for most of the hearing.

The trial, Jack added, took its toll, but he cited a metaphor saying: “Dragons can be slain” and he hoped a justified sentence would “restore confidence in the justice system.”

“You are the only one who can wield the sword of justice,” he said, looking directly at Pendergast.

Samantha Jack's mother, Yvonne Zerbe, gave the first victim impact statement and among her earliest memories was of a prayerful and “creative” girl.

When she heard the news of the fatal shooting, she said, with tears in her eyes and holding back her words: “I wanted to die. »

She called the trial a “horror show” and attacked the Pontarell family.

“There was no excuse for the murder of my daughter,” Zerbe said.

At the trial, then-prosecutor Julie Underwood, Senior Deputy Prosecutor, said Samantha Jack's murder was “absolutely not an accident,” as Jessica Agnich, Jack's defense attorney, had said. the time.

Underwood told jurors that if jurors listened again to the audio portion of a neighbor's security camera footage — a key piece of evidence in the trial — they would agree on four things: There was an argument and Pontarelli hit her; he “held a gun on her”; heard a semiautomatic handgun “being brandished,” meaning a bullet entered the firing chamber with a clicking sound; and that “he shot and killed her.”

She noted that Pontarelli did not “shed a single tear” when he saw the autopsy photos or other graphic evidence of the young woman he “would have loved.”

Underwood insisted the case “involves murder,” and specifically offenses of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter, a reference to statements Pendergast made during his initial instructions to the jury as the trial wound down.

Court records showed that Vacaville police investigators believed Pontarelli shot Jack before dawn on July 22.