{"id":319365,"date":"2026-05-16T22:45:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T22:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/319365\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T22:45:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T22:45:15","slug":"rosemont-man-convicted-in-rancho-cordova-light-rail-killing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/319365\/","title":{"rendered":"Rosemont man convicted in Rancho Cordova light rail killing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/in20the20courts20gavel20chyron20still20grab20frame20placeholder.jpeg\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"674\" title=\"\" alt=\"In the courts: Gavel silhouette\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A Rosemont man faces 31 years to life in prison after a Sacramento Superior Court jury convicted him Thursday of second-degree murder in a fatal stabbing at a Rancho Cordova light rail station nearly three years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Roderick Earl Sowells, 59, was convicted in the Aug. 12, 2023, killing of David Marcus Jones, 29, of West Sacramento, according to the Sacramento County District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors said Sowells got into an altercation with Jones\u2019 friend after exiting a light rail train at a station along Folsom Boulevard. The friend threw a glass bottle at Sowells, who then pulled out a sharp object and challenged him to a fight.<\/p>\n<p>When the friend walked away, Sowells turned to Jones and stabbed him 18 times, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n<p>Sowells remains held in Sacramento County Main Jail awaiting sentencing on July 17.<\/p>\n<p>At sentencing, the court will determine whether Sowells\u2019 prior sexual assault conviction qualifies as a strike under California\u2019s \u201cthree strikes\u201d law and whether aggravating factors apply.<\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sacbee.com\/profile\/315233098\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SAC_8021_CoreySchmidt_HA_260409.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" alt=\"Profile Image of Corey Schmidt\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n                    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                <a class=\"author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sacbee.com\/profile\/315233098\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Corey Schmidt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                    The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n<p>            Corey Schmidt is a watchdog reporter for the Sacramento Bee, focusing on Folsom, El Dorado Hills and Sacramento County\u2019s eastern suburbs. Previously, he was the government watchdog reporter for the St. Cloud Times in Minnesota. Schmidt received his bachelor\u2019s degree from DePaul University in Chicago and his master\u2019s degree from Yale University.\u00a0\n            <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Rosemont man faces 31 years to life in prison after a Sacramento Superior Court jury convicted him&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-319365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}