Susanville man sentenced to indeterminate life sentence for 2023 shooting at Frontier Inn

Corey Jay Cutler, 31, of Susanville, was sentenced yesterday to an indeterminate term of life in prison.

A Lassen County jury convicted Cutler in October 2025 of first-degree attempted murder and assault with a firearm. The jury also found true that he personally discharged a firearm in commission of the offense and that he inflicted great bodily injury to the victim.

It was alleged that Cutler, in the early morning hours of July 22, 2023, arrived at the Frontier Inn in Susanville and shot the victim approximately five times in the torso area. Cutler then fled the state and was later apprehended in Nevada where he faced other charges until being extradited back to California to stand trial for this attempted murder.

In a bifurcated proceeding, Cutler was found to have sustained a prior “strike” conviction and have served two other prior prison terms.

The personal discharge of the firearm enhancement carries a 25-life term. District Attorney Rios, both in her sentencing memorandum and in her argument in court, asked the court to impose the enhancement given the violent nature of the offense. The sentencing court did not adopt the recommendation of the District Attorney and exercised its discretion by not imposing the additional 25-life term.

The court did go on to sentence Cutler to an indeterminate term of life in prison for the attempted murder, applied the strike enhancement, and applied the great bodily injury enhancement of a consecutive three years.

Additionally, the court imposed the upper term of four years on the assault with a firearm, doubled for the prior strike, plus the three years for the GBI, for a total of 11 years on the assault, stayed pursuant to California sentencing laws.

Cutler is currently serving a 5-12-year prison term in Nevada, and upon completion will return to California to begin his life sentence.

By the court’s calculations, he should be eligible for parole after serving approximately 17 years of that sentence. Because he was already a sentenced prisoner, he received zero custody or conduct credits towards that life sentence.

Click here to read LassenNews.com’s Nov. 1, 2025 story, “Lassen County District Attorney reports on busy month.”

Click here to read LassenNews.com’s July 26, 2023 story, “Sunday shooting update: One ‘person of interest’ in custody, second identified.”

Click here to read LassenNews.com’s July 25, 2023 story, “Unidentified  ‘person of interest’ in Frontier Inn shooting ‘detained.’”

Click here to read LassenNews.com’s Dec. 15, 2022 story, “Cutler convicted of resisting arrest.”