The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said a 50-year-old man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 2001 killing of a father and his 2-year-old daughter outside their Compton home.
The office identified the defendant as Jahon Terez Smith (dob 12/9/75); a jury found him guilty in August of two counts of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted murder and a special-circumstance allegation of multiple murders.
The DA’s office said Smith drove through the 13100 block of South Willowbrook Avenue on Aug. 8, 2001, intending to kill rival gang members; both he and a front-seat passenger fired guns from the car. Stephen Murphy, 25, was holding his 2-year-old daughter Kali as they fled the gunfire; both were killed by a single bullet fired by the unidentified passenger, who has never been located, the DA’s office said.
Prosecutors said Smith also tried to kill three other people that evening; two were shot and survived. The DA’s office said DNA evidence linked Smith to the shootings and that prosecutors characterized the attacks as gang violence.
Los Angeles County District Attorney said the verdict showed "This is what justice looks like when law enforcement" and said law enforcement and prosecutors were unrelenting in solving the decades-old case. Hochman also said, "Stephen Murphy did what any father would do when he tried to shield his daughter from the gunshots. For 25 years, the victims’ family has grieved the tremendous loss of their loved ones and waited for this moment to hear that the gunman will never terrorize another neighborhood again."
Case TA161231 was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Paul Thompson of the Major Crimes Division and Deputy District Attorney Esther Kim of the Sex Crimes Division; the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigated.
Local
Nathan J. Hochman
District Attorney of Los Angeles County
Named 2 times in this story.
Portrait: Los Angeles County District Attorney / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
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