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A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced a man Friday to 31 years to life in prison for fatally stabbing another man 18 times at a Rancho Cordova light rail station in 2023.
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Judge Michael Sweet sentenced Roderick Earl Sowells, 60, for the murder of Carl Ram, 51, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
A jury found Sowells guilty in May of second-degree murder with an enhancement for using a deadly weapon. Sowells also had a prior sexual assault conviction that counted as a strike under California’s “three strikes” law.
On Aug. 12, 2023, Ram and a friend were sitting on a bench at a Sacramento Regional Transit light rail station along Folsom Boulevard in Rancho Cordova.
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Sowells got off the Gold Line train and approached the two men. A dispute between Sowells and Ram’s friend escalated, prompting the friend to throw a glass bottle at Sowells, prosecutors said.
The bottle hit Sowells in the head. He then pulled out a sharp object and challenged Ram’s friend to a fight, but the friend walked away, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said Sowells turned on Ram, stabbing him 18 times. A witness found Ram wounded on the ground and called 911. Ram was taken to a hospital, where he died from his injuries several weeks later.
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This story was originally published October 23, 2026 at 5:31 PM.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct the name of the victim.