Violent Felon Sentenced to Prison for Evading, Gun

Defendant Sean Ryan McCarthy, 37 years old of Santa Rosa, was sentenced Wednesday by the Honorable Dana Simonds to serve five years, four months in state prison after having pled no contest in January to charges of felony evading, being a felon in possession of a loaded firearm, hit and run, prowling, resisting arrest, and admitted a prior “strike” conviction for dissuading a witness.  At a Wednesday sentencing hearing McCarthy sought to have his prior “strike” dismissed and receive probation for the offenses. However, the court denied the motion.

The charges resulted from a September 11, 2019 incident in which McCarthy and an associate drove to the home of the associate’s romantic rival at around 1:30 am, entered the victim’s yard, and began throwing objects at the windows and yelling at the victim to come outside. After several minutes of trying to enter the house, McCarthy popped the victim’s tires with a knife and began to leave as Santa Rosa Police Officers arrived.  McCarthy left at a high rate of speed, and officers pursued. He turned onto a dead-end street, and initially stopped, but when officers pulled behind him he turned around and crashed through the patrol vehicle and fled.  The officers pursued as McCarthy traveled approximately 85-95 miles per hour, crossing into the center turn lane to pass other cars before losing control and skidding across the intersection into a tree.  McCarthy then ran from officers and was eventually apprehended with the assistance of a K-9. Officers thereafter located a loaded semiautomatic pistol in the dash console by the steering wheel.  McCarthy also had a knife in his pocket.  McCarthy had previously gone to prison for an almost identical offense.

In rejecting McCarthy’s request for probation the court found that he’s been given numerous prior opportunities at probation and received lenient sentences.  She found that his lengthy history of violent conduct, including ramming a woman’s vehicle and throwing a beer bottle through a man’s windshield in separate road rage incidents, numerous domestic violence incidents, including holding a drill to a woman’s head threatening to kill her, and the prior evading case where he also crashed and resisted arrest, demonstrated that he was dangerous and could not be safely allowed on probation.

The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorneys Javier Vaca and Robert Maddock.  Officer Noel Gaytan of the Santa Rosa Police Department headed the investigation.