A SENTENCE OF 193 YEARS TO LIFE

Man’s Conviction Upheld for Shooting California Parole Agent in Face

MyNews LA
February 5, 2019

A state appeals court panel Tuesday upheld a then-fugitive parolee’s conviction for shooting a parole agent in the face in Lake View Terrace seven years ago, but sent his case back for re-sentencing.

Jurors found Steven Hoff guilty in July 2015 of two counts of attempted murder of a police officer and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm for firing two shots on Jan. 4, 2012, while at a female friend’s trailer.

Hoff ambushed a California Parole Apprehension Team member who was trying to locate him for absconding from parole in an attempted burglary case about six months earlier, Deputy District Attorney Michael Blake said after the verdict.

The agent’s jaw was completely shattered and he has had to go through a series of reconstructive surgeries, according to the prosecutor.

Another gunshot just missed hitting another officer’s forehead, according to the 26-page ruling from a three-justice panel of California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal.

Authorities closed a section of the nearby Foothill (210) Freeway and locked down the nearby Brainerd Elementary School and Delphi Academy as officers searched for Hoff, who was bitten by a police dog after being found several hours later in an abandoned swimming pool.

He had also been wounded by gunfire from one of the agents.

He was sentenced to 193 years to life in September 2015, but the state appellate court panel ordered Hoff to be re-sentenced on the possession of a firearm by a felon charge, finding that the third-strike sentence imposed on that count was “not statutorily authorized.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: I always roll on the floor laughing when I read about sentences of 100, 200, etc. years to life.