Crime & Safety
Two Sentenced to Life in Prison for 2009 House Party Shooting
Raymond Vigel and Tamara Bassett were both sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for a 2009 shooting that left one dead and three injured.
A 2009 Elk Grove house party on Paseo Del Sol Way ended in disaster when Tamara Bassett and her boyfriend Raymond Vigel shot four people.
The Sacramento County District Attorney's office said Bassett and Vigel were both sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the shooting, which left one person dead and two others critically injured.
In April 2009, Bassett attended the house party where she got into a physical fight and was punched in the face. Officials said she became enraged and said she was going to bring back her Norteno boyfriend to shoot everyone.
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Soon after, Bassett pulled in front of the open garage with Vigel in the front passenger seat, where he shot at everyone in the garage. Vigel also shouted, “Oak Park 10th Avenue,” before firing at least 10 bullets into the garage.
One of the victims, Alison Freeseha, a 25-year-old mother of two, was shot four times in the back and killed by a gunshot wound to her head. Victim Justin Hughes in now paralyzed from the waist down after being shot three times in the back. Stephen Benetti was shot multiple times in the stomach and Michael Escarcega was shot in the leg.
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Vigel was convicted of first degree murder for Freeseha and attempted murder for Benetti by a jury in January 2011. However, that jury was unable to reach verdicts on the remaining charges against Vigel for the other victims, and all the charges against Bassett, who was a co-defendant.
In a retrial that ended last Friday, the jury convicted Vigel of attempted murder for Hughes and Escarcega and also agreed that he committed the crime to benefit the Norteno street gang.
Bassett was also convicted of first degree murder for the death of Freeseha and attempted murder of Benetti, Hughes and Escarcega by that same jury. It was also found true that she committed the crimes in association with the Norteno street gang.
Vigel was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, consecutive 57 years to life in prison, consecutive seven years in prison, and an additional 110 years to life in prison.
Bassett was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and consecutive 121 years to life in prison.
