Santa Rosa man sentenced to more than 100 years in prison for running over 2 people with car
SANTA ROSA -- A Santa Rosa man was sentenced to 14 years plus 100 years to life in prison Tuesday for driving his car over two people after a fight in 2021, killing one, the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office said.
Clifford Adams, 56, was convicted of murder, attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and reckless driving causing injury. Adams had three prior "strike" convictions, prosecutors said, which affected his sentencing.
On March 23, 2021, Adams got into a physical fight with a man on a small side street off Sebastopol Road in Santa Rosa. After the fight, both men left but soon returned to Roberts Avenue. Adams drove up the street, turned his car around, and was stopped with his car facing the man he had been fighting with, who was seated. Adams accelerated his car and drove directly at the man, hitting him and causing a leg fracture and "major" laceration to his leg, prosecutors said.
Adams also drove into Kellie Jones, who was sitting nearby on a mattress. Adams's car came to rest on top of Jones, trapping her and causing her to die from traumatic asphyxiation.
According to prosecutors, Adams's liability for the murder of Jones stems from a rule in California that if a person intends to kill one person, but unintentionally kills a different person, that person's death will be treated as if the intended target had been killed.
"Adams's act of retaliation caused a completely innocent victim to be killed," said District Attorney Carla Rodriguez in a statement released Tuesday. "Today's sentence appropriately accounts for the gravity of Adams's actions and his decades-long life of crime. Although nothing can bring Ms. Jones back, hopefully today's lengthy prison sentence will bring her loved ones some semblance of justice."