31-year-old Susanville resident Corey Jay Cutler was sentenced Thursday to an indeterminate term of life in prison for the July 2023 shooting of a man at the Frontier Inn on Susanville’s Main Street.
According to details provided by the Lassen County District Attorney’s office, the sentencing follows an October 2025 trial in which a Lassen County jury found Cutler guilty of first-degree attempted murder and assault with a firearm. The jury also determined that Cutler personally discharged a firearm during the commission of the offense and inflicted great bodily injury upon the victim.
The charges stem from an incident in the early morning hours of July 22nd, 2023, when Cutler arrived at the Frontier Inn and shot the victim approximately five times in the torso. Following the shooting, Cutler fled the state and was eventually apprehended in Nevada. He faced separate charges there before being extradited back to California to stand trial for the attempted murder.
In a bifurcated proceeding – a separate phase of the trial held to determine the truth of prior convictions – Cutler was found to have sustained a prior “strike” conviction and to have served two previous prison terms.
During sentencing arguments, Lassen County District Attorney Rios requested that the court impose a 25-years-to-life enhancement for the personal discharge of a firearm, citing the violent nature of the offense. However, the sentencing court exercised its discretion and declined to adopt the District Attorney’s recommendation, choosing not to impose the additional 25-to-life term.
Ultimately, the court sentenced Cutler to an indeterminate term of life in prison for the attempted murder charge. The sentence included a consecutive 3-year enhancement for great bodily injury, and the terms were adjusted for the prior strike conviction.
Additionally, the court imposed an upper term of 4 years for the assault with a firearm charge, which was doubled due to the prior strike, plus 3 years for the great bodily injury enhancement. This totaled 11 years on the assault charge, which was stayed pursuant to California sentencing laws.
Cutler is currently serving a 5-to-12-year prison term in Nevada. Upon completion of that sentence, he will be returned to California to begin serving his life sentence.
According to court calculations, Cutler will be eligible for parole after serving approximately 17 years of his California sentence. Because he was already a sentenced prisoner at the time of these proceedings, he received zero custody or conduct credits toward his life term.
