Sacramento jury finds man guilty of murder in 2019 shooting stemming from home burglary, DA says

Rosalio Ahumada
·2 min read

A Sacramento County jury on Wednesday found a man guilty of first-degree murder in a 2019 shooting in which the victim’s body was found later in his abandoned vehicle.

Tyler Smith, 43, was convicted of shooting to death Scott Chase II, along with an enhancement for using a gun in the murder and a special circumstance allegation for killing Chase during a robbery, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday in a news release. Smith also was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The June 28, 2019, fatal shooting stemmed from a burglary. Chase, 38, of Carmichael, had been living temporarily with Smith’s friend. Prosecutors said there was a burglary at Smith’s friend’s home while Chase was out of town.

The friend’s safe, which contained a gun belonging to Smith, was among the items stolen from the home in the burglary. Prosecutors said Smith believed Chase committed the burglary and put in place a plan to arm himself with a gun and confront Chase to retrieve the stolen items along with anything else valuable Chase had.

On the evening of June 27, 2019, Smith was armed with a gun when he went to Chase’s home, prosecutors said. When Chase arrived at his home the following morning, Smith started hitting Chase with the gun before shooting him once in the head, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Smith then placed Chase’s body in the back of the victim’s SUV, prosecutors said. Later, a security guard found the abandoned SUV with Chase’s body.

Investigators later identified Smith as the shooter in the homicide and arrested him two weeks after the shooting in Nevada, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Investigators never found the gun used in the homicide.

Smith remains in custody at the Sacramento County Jail. He is scheduled to return April 19 to Sacramento Superior Court for his sentencing hearing.

Prosecutors said Smith faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.