Second brother arrested in Salinas 2016 murder case

UPDATE 2/19/2019: Another arrest has been made in the 2016 murder of Kareem Jamal King.

Salinas Police say 31-year-old Lenny Sanks was arrested on charges of murder and conspiracy.

According to police, during the course of the investigation, detectives established probable cause to arrest Lenny Sanks in connection to the September 16, 2016 murder of Kareem Jamal King. Lenny Sanks was booked into the Monterey County Jail on Friday.

Lenny’s brother, Jerry Sanks was taken into custody for the same murder back in September.

The investigation is on-going and anyone with information is encouraged to call the Salinas Police Department at (831) 758-7321. If you would like to remain anonymous, you can call the Salinas Police Department Tip Line at (831) 775-4222, or the We-Tip Line at 1-800-78 CRIME.

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UPDATED 9/19/2018 5:00 p.m.: A Salinas Pee Wee football coach is behind bars for murder. That coach turned himself in nearly two years to the date for the murder he’s accused of committing.

Twenty-eight year-old Jerry Sanks turned himself in Tuesday. Sanks and his attorneys say he’s innocent, but the family of the victim says otherwise.

Twenty-three year old Kareem Jamal King was shot near East Lake and Soledad Streets in Chinatown, he later died from his injuries on September 16th of 2016.

Wednesday, two years later, Jerry Sanks – a popular Salinas football coach was arrested for King’s murder. Turning himself in to police a day after he learned a warrant was out for his arrest.

“Our client is determined to fight to protect his name protect his reputation and to prove his innocence on these charges,” one of Sanks attorneys William V. Pernik said.

Sanks himself also maintaining his innocence in a letter posted on Facebook to friends, family and his football team.

The family of Kareem King says they don’t believe Sanks.

“He gunned my son down six times,” Sharon Quarles, King’s mother said crying, “Why’d he have to shoot my son six times? And then run, my son wasn’t doing nothing but standing there.”

Kareem’s mother says she believes Sanks was seeking out revenge because Sanks believed her son shot one of his friends.

We asked Sanks’ attorneys about the family’s allegations but right now, they aren’t saying much.

“I don’t know a lot of people, and I’ve only seen it happen twice in my career and in my lifetime, that a man surrender himself on a first degree murder warrant and I think that says everything,” Pernik said.

“At the end of the day he knows what he did to my son and that’s all that matters to me,” Quarles said, “I don’t care about him being a coach I don’t care about how he turned his life around, none of that. What matters to me is getting justice for my son.”

Sanks’ next court appearance will be Tuesday the 25th, his attorneys will ask a judge to lower his one million dollar bail. Preliminary hearings are scheduled for mid-October.

PREVIOUS STORY: A Salinas peewee football coach is behind bars for murder.

According to the Salinas Police Department, Jerry Sanks turned himself in for a homicide that took place in Chinatown on September 16, 2016.

The victim, 23-year-old Kareem Jamal King was shot in the area of East Lake Street and Soledad Street. He was taken to a local hospital where he died from his injuries.

“Detectives took over the investigation, but nothing could be proven at the time,” said Sgt. Danny Warner. “They continued to diligently work the case and were able to establish probable cause to arrest Jerry Sanks for King’s murder.”

Sanks wrote a letter of innocence to friends, family and his football team:

Sanks will have his first court appearance Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018.

Friends and family started a gofundme to raise money for his defense.

Editor’s Note: A previous story showed Alisal Eagles football video that seemed to connect that team with Mr. Sanks’ surrender. The story has been replaced. We apologize for the error.