Gunman sentenced to prison for murder of homeless Serra Mesa woman

A young man who fatally shot a 68-year-old homeless woman in Serra Mesa last year with a pellet gun was sentenced Thursday to five years and eight months in state prison.

William Innes, 19, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with the murder of Annette Pershal, who police found unconscious on the morning of May 8, 2023 on Sandrock Road.

Pershal, affectionately known by friends and family as “Granny Annie” or “Queen of Serra Mesa,” died at the hospital three days after the shooting. She was shot in the head, leg and torso, with one bullet shattering her aorta, according to Assistant District Attorney Roza Egiazarian.

Prosecutors allege that before the shooting, Innes sent a message to a group chat that read, “I'm going to hunt bums with a pellet gun.” »

Co-defendant Ryan Hopkins then picked up Innes and the two drove to Pershal's encampment, where she was shot, according to prosecutors.

Innes' defense attorney, Patrick Griffin, said after the sentencing hearing that his client “is being punished appropriately” and “is deeply remorseful” for what happened.

However, he argued that Innes' co-accused played a larger role in the murder than previously thought.

Griffin said that unlike his client, Hopkins knew Pershal, lived in the neighborhood where Pershal set up camp and purchased the pellet gun used in the shooting.

The attorney also said Innes was not the only one who fired the pellet gun, but prosecutors charged his client more harshly based on the initial information they were given.

“(Hopkins) was the one who put this whole thing in motion,” Griffin said. “The weight of all of this is now on Will's shoulders, when at the end of the day these two kids share this equally.”

Hopkins' defense attorney, Vikas Bajaj, argued at his client's sentencing hearing last year that Hopkins never saw Innes' “tramp hunt” message and “had no idea” there was a plan to harm anyone.

Hopkins and Innes were arrested in August. Innes, initially charged with murder, was 18 at the time of the killing. Along with the manslaughter charge, Innes pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter.
count of possession of an assault weapon and allegation of use of a dangerous weapon in the murder. The sentence of five years and eight months was agreed when Innes pleaded guilty.

Hopkins, who was 19 at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty last year to assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to a year in county jail, plus probation. Hopkins' sentence included a three-year suspended prison sentence, which could be imposed if he violated his probation conditions.

During the sentencing hearing, Innes apologized to the victim's family members present.

“I can’t change what happened, but I wish I could,” Innes said. “That's the only thing I can say that I hope will make you feel better about what happened, which it probably never will.”

Pershal's daughter, Brandy Nazworth, said her mother grew up in Serra Mesa and previously worked as a parts analyst for General Dynamics and a seamstress.

Nazworth said that after her mother became homeless, the family tried to convince Pershal to move in with them in Louisiana.

But Pershal “couldn’t imagine leaving the neighborhood she grew up in,” Nazworth said.

Nazworth told Innes: “The only good that can come from this senseless tragedy is to use it to become a better man. To you, she may have looked like a dirty homeless person, but she was still my mother and the grandmother of my children. …He was a person, not just an object for target practice.”