Man sentenced to life in prison for 2016 shooting that killed Valley teen

More than six years after 18-year-old Gianni Corsentino was murdered, his killer was sentenced this week to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A jury convicted 36-year-old Adrian Johnson in November of murder with the use of a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit murder, and two counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon. He was sentenced on Tuesday following years of competency hearings, rotating attorneys and refusals from Johnson to appear in court.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Hamner argued that Johnson should be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole because of the seriousness of the killing.

“The thing that struck the state most about this particular crime was how absolutely senseless it was,” Hamner said Tuesday. “It was absolutely unnecessary under the circumstances.”

On June 26, 2016, Johnson fired into a parked car Corsentino was sitting in with two of his friends. Corsentino was shot in the head and his two friends — Robert Ortiz and Tai-Ree Williams — were shot multiple times, according to transcripts of a grand jury hearing.

The group had stopped at a gas station where one of the friends, Johnson’s nephew, Gerald Fuller, went inside and began calling relatives. Tony Lato, Corsentino’s grandfather who watched Johnson’s murder trial, previously told the Review-Journal that Fuller thought Corsentino and the others wanted to rob him.

“At best, I think Gerald might have been high and a little paranoid,” Hamner said during the sentencing hearing.

Hamner said that Johnson could have taken his nephew and left the gas station, instead of confronting and shooting the young men.

“There’s nothing about this scenario that warrants the response that he levels on these three kids, and that’s what’s so scary,” Hamner said.

District Judge Carli Kierny granted a motion from Johnson on Tuesday allowing him to represent himself for the sentencing hearing. While speaking to the judge, Johnson repeated claims that he was not involved in the fatal shooting.

Kierny sentenced him to life without the possibility of parole, with 2,193 days credit for time served. Johnson briefly disputed the amount of time he had been in jail.

“It really don’t matter, you just gave me life,” Johnson told the judge, laughing after she ordered the sentence.

Fuller, who was also arrested after the shooting, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, voluntary manslaughter with a deadly weapon and attempted murder with a deadly weapon, court records show. He entered an Alford plea, meaning he only admitted that prosecutors had enough evidence to prove his guilt, and was sentenced in April to eight to 20 years in prison, court records show.

Corsentino’s grandparents, Tony Lato and his wife, Mary Lato, each gave emotional victim impact statements on Tuesday and sobbed as they talked about the grandson they raised. Two years after Corsentino was killed, his mother died by suicide amid her own grief, Mary Lato said.

“I never had a chance to say goodbye to either one,” she said.

Tony Lato said the lengthy court proceedings have been “awful” over the past six years, but he’s happy that the case has finally resolved.

“It doesn’t bring back our kid, but it’s over,” he said after the sentencing hearing.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.