OAKLAND — A Union City man was sentenced to 38 years to life for murdering an Oakland teen during a crime spree that included robberies, a carjacking and taunts that reignited a gang feud, court records show.
Jacobi Gaines, 23, was sentenced in March for murdering 17-year-old Hasan Humphries in January 2020. Gaines was convicted of murder, assault, unlawful firearm activity and robbery at trial earlier this year.
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The sentence means that Gaines will get a chance at parole after 38 years. He will receive credit for the time he has spent in jail since his arrest in 2020.
Humphries’ father, Hashim Humphries, wrote a letter to the court saying his family was “irrevocably shattered” by his son’s murder and asking for a sentence that fits the crime.
“(Hasan’s) future was filled with promises, and dreams, that were maliciously taken by your actions. I miss his laughter, voice, hugs and presence. The simple joys of life have been replaced with a constant ache of grief,” Hashim Humphries wrote. He later added, “Your actions have not only taken my son’s life, but they have also robbed me of my own. A part of me died with him that day. I will never be the same.”
At the time of the murder and related crime spree, Gaines was 18. His lawyer wrote that some leniency was warranted due to his young age, and says Gaines will be appealing. His right to a fair trial was impacted by “the admission of prejudicial video depicting the defendant urinating on the grave of an alleged rival gang member,” the defense lawyer, Todd Bequette, wrote in one court filing.
In November 2019, Gaines posted a video of himself urinating on the grave of another teen who was gunned down in Oakland, a 17-year-old Skyline High student named Keith Lawrence. The video angered members of the Oakland-based Case Gang, whose members were friends with Lawrence, and their anger was directed at the West Oakland-based Ghost Town gang, whose members included Gaines, according to prosecutors.
Humphries was shot and killed while walking on the sidewalk of the 1400 block of 48th Avenue in Oakland at around 4:45 p.m. on Jan. 13, 2020. Police say Gaines was driving an Audi he’d previously stolen from a man attempting to sell the car online and that he pulled the car over, shot Humphries and drove off.
During the same time, Gaines arranged to buy items from strangers through online marketplaces, but ended up robbing them, authorities say. One of the men wrote a letter to the court saying that after the experience he began having panic attacks and spent years going to therapy. He said he feared he would die that day.
“I cried constantly and was terrified to go outside, afraid of encountering someone so heartless — someone capable of causing so much emotional harm without a care,” the man wrote. “My life and my family’s peace were completely disrupted. It was heartbreaking for them to see me in such a state, full of fear, unable to work or live my life as I once did.”
Around the same time, Gaines’ social media postings got him into trouble again. He posted a picture of himself aiming a gun at the camera, and police say it just happens to be the same type of gun used to kill Humphries.
In 2021, while behind bars awaiting trial in this case, Gaines allegedly punched a deputy inside Santa Rita Jail, injuring him, and caught a new felony charge, prosecutors said in court filings.
Gaines was transferred to prison on April 2, and is currently being housed at the Substance Abuse Treatment Facility in Corcoran, records show.