The court hands down decades behind bars following a brutal 2023 stabbing on public transit. By Sarah LinState prison time amounting to life plus seven years was ordered for a 67-year-old Santa Monica man convicted of carrying out a racially motivated stabbing aboard a public transit vehicle. Superior Court proceedings concluded with the sentencing of Gerald Pitts following his June conviction on attempted murder charges. Court records show the violent encounter occurred around 9 p.m. on March 25, 2023, when Gonzalez boarded a Los Angeles Metro bus. When the wounded man collapsed onto the pavement outside the bus, Pitts continued the assault, kicking Gonzalez in the head while shouting additional slurs.