Trials
Julian Charles McElhaney was sentenced to 100 years to life for killing his parents in Fresno.
Fresno County Superior Court Commissioner Daniel Brickey sentenced McElhaney, 27, on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, after a Sept. 17 plea agreement in the April 10, 2022, shootings of William McElhaney, 55, and Sylvia McElhaney, 64, the Fresno County District Attorney's Office said through GV Wire, FOX26 and The Fresno Bee.
By Crime Talk Network Staff Writer ·
A plea on Sept. 17 and a 100-years-to-life term on Oct. 16 close the case without a trial verdict. The call McElhaney made to dispatch — reporting that he had shot someone — is still the detail that defines the charging narrative police and prosecutors have told since 2022.
Julian Charles McElhaney, 27, of Fresno was sentenced Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, to 100 years to life in state prison for murdering his parents, the Fresno County District Attorney's Office announced, as reported by GV Wire, FOX26 and The Fresno Bee. Fresno County Superior Court Commissioner Daniel Brickey imposed the sentence after a plea agreement entered Sept. 17, GV Wire reported.
On April 10, 2022, Fresno police responded to reports of gunfire at a home in the 6100 block of North Tenth Street, prosecutors said. Dispatchers then received a call from McElhaney reporting that he had shot someone. Officers found William McElhaney, 55, dead in the front yard and Sylvia McElhaney, 64, dead inside the home. Both had multiple gunshot wounds, according to the DA's account as reported by GV Wire and The Fresno Bee. FOX26 reported Sylvia's age as 65.
McElhaney was detained at the scene and later admitted to shooting and killing his parents after an argument at the family home, prosecutors said. At Friday's sentencing, family members addressed the lasting impact of the killings. In a victim-impact statement read by the victims' nephew, Rudy Cruz, the family said, "The ripple effects of what you did will forever live in the rest of our lives," GV Wire, FOX26 and The Fresno Bee reported.
All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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