After only a couple hours of deliberating, a jury found a San Mateo man not guilty of trying to kill an acquaintance on a San Mateo street.
Jared Fonua, 20, is free after jurors acquitted him of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and using a firearm in the commission of a crime during the Feb. 11 shooting. The verdict comes little more than a month after another man pleaded no contest to a lesser charge in the same crime. Deliberations began late Tuesday afternoon and wrapped up yesterday morning after one extra hour of consideration.
Prosecutors told the jury that Fonua handed a .40 caliber handgun to his alleged accomplice, John Tonga as the victim walked by his house on the 100 block of Grant Street. The two men asked the victim why he was in the neighborhood before Tonga, 19, chased him down and shot him in the abdomen.
On June 8, Tonga pleaded no contest to assault with a deadly weapon and using a firearm. A month later he was sentenced to seven years in state prison.
The February shooting was part of a violent week in San Mateo that saw another attempted murder that left one man paralyzed from the neck down and a gang-related stabbing. Police responded with a policy of "zero tolerance" that resulted in quick arrests.
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