Post by sharpie marker on Feb 10, 2010 16:44:31 GMT -5
www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2010-02-09/local-county-news/gang-member-sentenced-to-31-years
A gang member from Los Angeles, who was 17 when he shot and killed a 25-year-old man following an argument outside a Morena area bar, was sentenced Tuesday to 31 years in state prison.
Alexander Rafael Garcia, now 18, pleaded guilty Dec. 8 to voluntary manslaughter and admitted sentence-enhancing allegations that he personally used a firearm to kill Christopher Hawthorne and that the crime was committed for the benefit of a street gang.
“Your actions that night affected a lot of people,” the victim’s father, Clay Hawthorne Sr. told the defendant. “Things that we enjoy in life just don’t matter any more. I hope your stay in prison is painful and lonely.”
The victim’s mother, Donna, said she wishes for one more hug with her son.
“I have lost my drive for life,” she told Judge David Danielsen. “It was me who needed him (her son), not the other way around.”
She said she goes to her son’s grave to tell him “how sorry I am that I could not save him” and called Garcia a “black-hearted coward with no morals.”
“The thought of you disgusts me,” she told the defendant, whose plea deal kept him from being prosecuted for murder.
Eileen Hawthorne, who had married her high school sweetheart about six months before he was slain, said their two young daughters long for their father.
“You took it upon yourself to ruin the lives of a 7-year-old and a 2-year-old,” the widow said. “Do you think you’re God? I hope you rot away in a jail cell and everyone forgets about your existence.”
Douglas Cash testified during a hearing last April that he was working as a security guard at O’Connell’s bar on Morena Boulevard in the early morning hours of Jan. 10, 2009, when he went outside to break up a fight.
Cash said he tried to pull one man away from a fight, then noticed two people yelling at each other nearby.
A man standing in the street had his fist outstretched and was yelling “white power!” and the other man — identified as Garcia — was facing the street, wearing a gray sweatshirt with the hood pulled over his head, yelling the same thing, Cash testified.
After the verbal sparring, the man in the street took off running and the defendant ran after him, Cash testified.
The witness said he heard gunshots, then saw the defendant fire a shot at the victim and saw the man stumble. When Hawthorne got up, the defendant shot him from a foot away, causing the victim to fall face-first into the street, Cash testified.
Another witness, Cpl. Christopher Brickel, said he saw Garcia and the victim running toward him, and saw the defendant pull out a gun and shoot Hawthorne in the shoulder, causing him to fall to the ground.
Brickel said the assailant then stepped over the victim and shot him in the side of the head.
A detective testified that Garcia was arrested in Los Angeles after the shooting and admitted his involvement in the crime.
Outside court Tuesday, defense attorney Debby Kirkwood said her client belonged to a gang called Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice, also known as the “Sharps.”
She said Garcia had no criminal record, had earned good grades at Bravo Medical Magnet School in Los Angeles and came from a good family.
Garcia was also captain of his varsity soccer team and coached youth soccer, the attorney said.
She said Hawthorne extended his right arm and was yelling “Heil Hitler” before the fatal shooting. He was on probation for two hate crimes — one against a Hispanic and one against an African-American — at the time he was killed, Kirkwood said.
A gang member from Los Angeles, who was 17 when he shot and killed a 25-year-old man following an argument outside a Morena area bar, was sentenced Tuesday to 31 years in state prison.
Alexander Rafael Garcia, now 18, pleaded guilty Dec. 8 to voluntary manslaughter and admitted sentence-enhancing allegations that he personally used a firearm to kill Christopher Hawthorne and that the crime was committed for the benefit of a street gang.
“Your actions that night affected a lot of people,” the victim’s father, Clay Hawthorne Sr. told the defendant. “Things that we enjoy in life just don’t matter any more. I hope your stay in prison is painful and lonely.”
The victim’s mother, Donna, said she wishes for one more hug with her son.
“I have lost my drive for life,” she told Judge David Danielsen. “It was me who needed him (her son), not the other way around.”
She said she goes to her son’s grave to tell him “how sorry I am that I could not save him” and called Garcia a “black-hearted coward with no morals.”
“The thought of you disgusts me,” she told the defendant, whose plea deal kept him from being prosecuted for murder.
Eileen Hawthorne, who had married her high school sweetheart about six months before he was slain, said their two young daughters long for their father.
“You took it upon yourself to ruin the lives of a 7-year-old and a 2-year-old,” the widow said. “Do you think you’re God? I hope you rot away in a jail cell and everyone forgets about your existence.”
Douglas Cash testified during a hearing last April that he was working as a security guard at O’Connell’s bar on Morena Boulevard in the early morning hours of Jan. 10, 2009, when he went outside to break up a fight.
Cash said he tried to pull one man away from a fight, then noticed two people yelling at each other nearby.
A man standing in the street had his fist outstretched and was yelling “white power!” and the other man — identified as Garcia — was facing the street, wearing a gray sweatshirt with the hood pulled over his head, yelling the same thing, Cash testified.
After the verbal sparring, the man in the street took off running and the defendant ran after him, Cash testified.
The witness said he heard gunshots, then saw the defendant fire a shot at the victim and saw the man stumble. When Hawthorne got up, the defendant shot him from a foot away, causing the victim to fall face-first into the street, Cash testified.
Another witness, Cpl. Christopher Brickel, said he saw Garcia and the victim running toward him, and saw the defendant pull out a gun and shoot Hawthorne in the shoulder, causing him to fall to the ground.
Brickel said the assailant then stepped over the victim and shot him in the side of the head.
A detective testified that Garcia was arrested in Los Angeles after the shooting and admitted his involvement in the crime.
Outside court Tuesday, defense attorney Debby Kirkwood said her client belonged to a gang called Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice, also known as the “Sharps.”
She said Garcia had no criminal record, had earned good grades at Bravo Medical Magnet School in Los Angeles and came from a good family.
Garcia was also captain of his varsity soccer team and coached youth soccer, the attorney said.
She said Hawthorne extended his right arm and was yelling “Heil Hitler” before the fatal shooting. He was on probation for two hate crimes — one against a Hispanic and one against an African-American — at the time he was killed, Kirkwood said.