Two young men had been shooting plastic water pellets at passersby outside a bar in San Bruno in October 2023 when a fight broke out with a man who approached to ask why they were targeting strangers.
What had started as a juvenile prank escalated quickly and ended in the victim being stabbed 20 times by one of the men – resulting in the removal of his spleen, prosecutors said.
Francis Eugene Morato, a 22 year old from San Francisco who kicked and punched the victim but did not play a role in the stabbing, pleaded no contest to felony assault for his role in the attack and was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison for the assault, plus an additional one year for a second felony assault case he picked up while in jail awaiting trial, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.
Morato was also sentenced to 31 days in county jail for each of two misdemeanor charges of violating a court order.
However, with credit for time Morato already served while waiting for his cases to be resolved, the sentence was a “paper commitment,” meaning that his sentence has been served and he will not report to prison. He was ordered to serve three years of parole for each felony case.
In January, co-defendant Marvin Anthony Dismuke, a 21-year-old resident of San Francisco who stabbed the victim, pleaded no contest to felony assault with a deadly weapon with infliction of great bodily injury, felony battery causing great bodily injury with weapon use and misdemeanor resisting arrest, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office. He was sentenced to five years in prison.
At the hearing Wednesday morning, Morato wore an orange jumpsuit and occasionally spun in his chair while waiting for his sentence to be imposed. His wrists were bound in handcuffs at his waist.
San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey B. Jackson ordered Morato to serve the term of two years for the attack outside the bar, and one year for the in-custody assault. The sentences were technically set to be served consecutively, though that order was symbolic since Morato has already completed his term.
“The court feels you should be held responsible for that,” Jackson said.
The San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.
Soo-Ryun Kwon, Morato’s defense attorney, said that the sentence was “in line” with similar cases she has seen.
“I would have obviously loved to see a dismissal, an outright dismissal of the case after the jury hung in favor of my client,” Kwon said. “Eleven-to-one towards not guilty is a strong condemnation to the DA’s office that (the jury thinks) that it wasn’t proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
“I think what it ended up coming down to was: There’s an additional open felony case, and then some misdemeanor cases, and so how can we resolve everything in an expeditious manner?”
Morato was initially charged with a felony count of battery with serious bodily injury and felony assault with likelihood of causing great bodily injury with an enhancement for great bodily injury, according to court records.
The jury deadlocked on the two charges in October, voting 11-1 and 7-5 for not guilty, prosecutors said. Jackson declared a mistrial on the case.
Kwon said that Morato had originally opted to go to trial because he did not want a felony strike on his record.
“My client is a very young man who cannot be convicted of a strike felony,” Kwon said. “From the beginning, we said we’re happy to resolve this, we want to resolve it, it’s just that we won’t take a strike felony. And the position from the district attorney’s office was, ‘No, these were incredibly terrible injuries suffered by this individual, we want to secure a strike conviction for him,’ which is understandable.”
Kwon said that Morato was involved in the fight because “he was trying to defend his friend.” Kwon added that he “had no knowledge” of the stabbing until police asked him about it.
On Oct. 28, 2023, Morato and Dismuke were sitting in a car outside Newell’s Bar and shooting passersby with an Orbeez gel gun, prosecutors said.
A 36-year-old man approached Morato and Dismuke to ask why they were shooting people with the Orbeez gun; a fistfight broke out between the defendants and the man, prosecutors said.
Dismuke used a butterfly knife to stab the victim about 20 times while Morato punched and kicked him in the head, prosecutors added.
Some patrons broke up the attack, prosecutors said. When police arrived, the defendants refused to stop.
The victim was transported to a hospital, where he was placed in a medically-induced coma and had to have his spleen removed, prosecutors added.
Morato’s second assault case was for an in-custody incident in jail in which Morato was involved in a fight where a victim was punched multiple times, Kwon added.
Kwon added that Morato should have not been held without bail and should have been released from custody much earlier.
“Ultimately, the jury concluded the same way I did, which is (Morato) is a sweet kid who’s trying to save his friend and ultimately ended up spending a bunch of time in jail,” Kwon said. “But everyone agreed, look, we want to be able to move on from this. (My) client’s been in custody for a very long time.”
Morato was set to be released from custody Wednesday.