Written by STOCKTON — A 25-year-old gang member was sentenced Monday to 10 consecutive life sentences, of which he would have to serve more than 200 years, for killing one man and injuring six others in a 2009 nightclub shooting in Tracy.
In November, a San Joaquin County jury convicted Michael Mau of Tracy of 13 charges, including the second-degree murder of Naim Bey, 41, in the early hours of Oct. 10, 2009.
The jury also convicted Mau of six counts of premeditated attempted murder — one for each person injured — as well as gang and gun charges. The murder and attempted murder charges carried enhancements which tacked on additional time to each of those charges.
Bey, of Tracy, was shot in the head by a bullet that was fired into the Amore’s Italian Restaurant, which was operating as a nightclub at the time. Family and friends told Judge George Abdallah that Bey was a loving husband and a father of two daughters, a kind man who helped those he could.
“You don’t find a Naim Bey every day,” said Haneef Abdullah. “He wasn’t an average joe.” Abdullah said Bey’s spiritual advisor was Dr. Yusuf Bey, a Muslim activist and founder of Your Black Muslim Bakery in Oakland.
Nancy Barajas, a friend of Naim Bey whose husband Raul Barajas was injured in the shooting, said the night of the shooting was supposed to be a night of celebration, but it became her worst nightmare.
“I will never be able to repair that pain and anguish in my heart,” she told the court.
The sentencing hearing became tense Monday as some expressed disdain for Mau.
John Bey called him a “savage,” adding that he thought Mau was a “coward” for shooting into the crowded restaurant, a word repeated by others who followed him on the witness stand.
Some of the blunt comments drew the objection of Mau’s attorney, Jonathan Fattarsi.
A man in the courtroom audience was escorted out the room after he uttered an expletive while the victims’ side spoke.
At the beginning of Monday’s hearing, Mau asked the judge to read all the charges of which he was found guilty on Nov. 22, apparently baffled that a jury had convicted him.
“I don’t understand how I was convicted,” he said.
Mau said he felt “bad for all the people who got shot,” but that justice wasn’t served. He told the court there is evidence that a police informant named Mark Garcia was lying. Garcia, who was in the same gang as Mau, was with him the night of the shooting. Garcia had told the court that Mau shot into the restaurant after they were kicked out for fighting.
During the trial, Fattarsi told the jury no gunshot residue was found on Mau’s hands. Fattarsi declined to comment after Monday’s sentencing hearing.
“I didn’t do it,” Mau told the court. “I will be back on appeal.”
