SAN JOSE — A man convicted of shooting and wounding a stranger in an unprovoked attack outside his Berryessa home in 2022 has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, according to authorities.
Mark Henry Waters, 68, received the prison term Wednesday in a San Jose courtroom.
In March, a jury found Waters guilty of assault with a deadly weapon in the Oct. 2, 2022, shooting of a 21-year-old man staying at a nearby Airbnb home off Piedmont Road and who was walking to a grocery store.
Police alleged that Waters trained a gun on and briefly pursued the victim, who never set foot on Waters’ property. Prosecutors said the shooting victim, who has not sought public attention, needed to use a wheelchair and extensive rehabilitation after he was injured, and to this day cannot continue his pastime of running for exercise.
“This is a sensible verdict for a senseless crime,” Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “While this victim will not be healed by his attacker getting more than a decade in prison, we hope this serious sentence gives him and this county a sense of justice and relief that a dangerous person is off our streets.”
Waters asserted on multiple occasions that he recently experienced a car burglary in which one of his garage openers was stolen, and thought the thief might be returning.
Prosecutors countered by citing home-security video recorded in the area that showed the man was simply walking by when he saw a gun pointed at his chest, prompting him to turn and run. They also alleged that Waters yelled at the man, “So you think you can run?” before opening fire.
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The victim was shot in the leg by a trailing Waters, who would later claim that his semi-automatic firearm fired by accident.
Waters’ attorney, Steven Clark, declined comment on the sentence other than to say that he plans to file an appeal. In a statement after Waters was convicted, Clark stressed his client’s absence of criminal history and his residual fears from the earlier burglary.
“Mr. Waters mistakenly believed the victim was associated with the previous criminal acts. Mr. Waters is deeply remorseful for what occurred,” Clark said in March.
The shooting garnered wide attention after the district attorney’s office charged Waters and said it was exploring whether it was driven by racial animus: Waters is white and the victim is Black. Ultimately, no hate crime charges were filed.
