DA Chris Hicks announces that Julian Hamilton (dob 1/14/90) has been sentenced to a total of more than 100 years in a First-Degree Murder case.
The defendant was sentenced to 20-50 years on the murder charge, with a consecutive 8-20 for a Deadly Weapons enhancement. He was also given 6-15 for both counts of Battery with a Deadly Weapon Causing Substantial Bodily Harm, and 2-6 years for Felon in Possession of a Firearm. Hamilton’s aggregate sentence is 42-108 years.
In March of 2022, officers with the Reno Police Department responded to a report of a shooting with three victims, after a party bus brought them to Renown Medical Center. Police later learned that the shooting had occurred outside of the Peppermint Hippo Strip Club. The first victim was declared dead upon arrival, while the second victim was taken into surgery for a gunshot wound to his femoral artery, and the third was treated for a gunshot wound to his leg/knee.
An investigation into the shooting determined that 15 people were on the party bus for a birthday celebration, and the group had stopped at several locations in downtown Reno before ending up at the club. While several members of the group got off the bus to use the restroom and negotiate going into the club, Hamilton approached and opened fire into the vehicle – still occupied by the majority of the group. Officers later learned that Hamilton had fired on the bus because he recognized one of the victims from an altercation the two had had a few years prior, where the defendant was shot in a mutual gun battle in downtown Reno where more than forty shots were fired.
At sentencing, Deputy District Attorney Nathan MacLellan argued for Life without Parole, touching on how the defendant continued to engage in violent conduct in this community. He had just been released from prison, having served 48 months between the prior shooting and this event. DDA MacLellan argued about how Hamilton had been contemplating his revenge for the entirety of that time, and when the opportunity presented itself, he pounced and ambushed the group. Thirty-year-old Karysma Jenkins was sitting on the bus in front of the intended target, and just moments before had told the bus driver that she wished she had stayed home with her daughter that evening and was ready to go home. The State showed the court pictures of the family, arguing that Karysma will now miss all of her daughter’s milestones, because of this murder.
In comparison, the defendant asked for parole. The State believes that had Hamilton been sentenced to the fullest extent of the law for his prior shooting in 2017, he would have still been in prison on that fateful night. This was an aggravated First-Degree Murder with a Firearm case, committed by a violent career criminal, and there is only one sentence that should be considered by the court – life without the possibility of parole.
The victim’s mother, sister and daughter then spoke powerfully at the sentencing, asking that the judge never allow the defendant, with his violent history, to ever have the opportunity to hurt another family again. The State argued for Life Without the Possibility of Parole. Judge Breslow presided and imposed the sentence.
