S.F. man sentenced for 2014 Mission District murder
A 27-year-old San Francisco man was sentenced to nearly 20 years to life in prison for a seemingly unprovoked fatal stabbing in the Mission District last year, prosecutors said.
Andres Novelo was sentenced to 19 years and six months to life for the murder of Casey Bissell, 25, who was out celebrating his recent acceptance to the University of California, Berkeley on Dec. 7, 2014, when he was killed.
Court records showed that Bissell, along with his friends, left the bar just before closing around 1:45 a.m. and were mingling on the sidewalk in front of a nearby pizza place when Novelo approached.
Gascón said that various surveillance cameras captured footage of Novelo being aggressive and combative toward people on the street before he walked up to Bissell’s group.
The group tried to defuse the situation by walking away, heading south on Valencia Street, but Novelo followed them and pulled a large butcher knife from his backpack, according to court records.
The two struggled for a few seconds, during which Bissell received the fatal wound, but he continued to fight with Novelo, eventually pulling him to the ground and punching him several times in the face, according to court records.
