A 46-year-old Marysville man died Tuesday after being stabbed in a river-bottom homeless encampment near the 200 block of A Street, and the Yuba County Sheriff's Office says the arrest of the man accused in his death includes an alleged hate-crime component. Deputies responded to the area, once known as the Hollywood Trailer Park, at approximately 11:49 a.m. Tuesday after a report of a stabbing. Akili Lewis was rushed to Adventist Health, where he later died of his injuries.
According to the Yuba County Sheriff's Department, detectives and members of the office's Problem-Oriented Policing team arrested 48-year-old Jesse Stewart, a white man from Marysville, on suspicion of homicide. Investigators say the assault occurred in the river-bottom area near a transient encampment. Per witnesses, the suspect yelled racial slurs directed at Lewis during the attack, prompting the sheriff's office to note the arrest includes an alleged hate-crime allegation under California Penal Code Section 422.55.
Investigators recovered a knife from the Yuba River that they believe was used in the assault. Sheriff's office personnel who arrived on scene provided medical aid to Lewis before his transport to the hospital, and unmanned aircraft systems personnel and dive team members assisted with the broader investigation, the sheriff's office said. The alleged homicide is being investigated as a violation of California Penal Code Section 187, and the sheriff's office says the investigation remains active and ongoing, with no additional information released at this time.
What a Hate-Crime Finding Could Mean Legally
California Penal Code Section 422.55 defines a hate crime as a criminal act committed in whole or in part because of a victim's actual or perceived protected characteristics, including race or ethnicity, and Penal Code Section 422.75 allows prosecutors to seek a sentencing enhancement of one to three additional years in state prison, according to the Shouse Law Group. If prosecutors ultimately pursue hate-motivated murder special circumstances, California law goes further still: under Penal Code Section 190.2(a)(16), a first-degree murder intentionally committed because of a victim's race, color, or religion constitutes a special circumstance punishable by death or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, per FindLaw. Whether the Yuba County District Attorney's Office will pursue those enhanced charges remains an open question as the investigation continues.
A Specialized Team With a Recent Track Record
The sheriff's office established its Problem-Oriented Policing team on June 1, 2024, as a proactive unit designed to target recurring crimes, violent fugitives, and high-priority repeat offenders across the county's 632 square miles, the sheriff's department has said. That team, integrated with Flock Safety license plate reader technology, has previously helped detectives apprehend homicide suspects and seize illegal firearms and narcotics countywide, the department reported in March. Yuba County detectives have handled other complex homicide cases in recent months, including the May arrest of a 39-year-old Olivehurst man on suspicion of homicide tied to a fatal fentanyl overdose inside the Yuba County Jail, as reported by ABC10.
A Site With a Troubled History
The river-bottom area near A Street, formerly the Hollywood Trailer Park, has a fraught local history. Marysville and Yuba County officials cleared sizable homeless encampments there in 2016, a move that triggered a federal class-action lawsuit ultimately settled in 2020 for $330,000 paid to displaced residents. The same stretch of riverbank has seen fatal violence before: in October 2019, a 45-year-old unhoused man was killed in a river-bottom encampment in the same block, leading to a voluntary manslaughter conviction of a local woman in 2020.
Racially motivated violence has also surfaced in the Marysville area in years past. In December 2013, two Yuba County men pleaded guilty in federal court to hate crime charges under the Shepard-Byrd Act for a racially motivated 2011 assault on an African-American woman and a white man in Marysville, according to the FBI. Yuba County's population remains predominantly white, with roughly 41,400 non-Hispanic white residents as the county's largest demographic group in 2024, compared to approximately 2,200 Black residents, according to data compiled by Data USA and the California Department of Justice. The county has continued to grow, with its population climbing 1.4% between 2024 and 2025 to more than 85,000 residents, driven largely by domestic migration, per USAFacts.
The sheriff's office has not released further details on Stewart's booking status or any additional charges beyond the homicide allegation, and it is not yet known whether the Yuba County District Attorney's Office will file formal hate-crime special circumstances in the case. The investigation remains active, and anyone with information has not been given a specific tip line in the sheriff's office's release.
