Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 24, 2006 5:10:48 GMT -5
D.A. won't seek death penalty
Life without parole will be sought in fatal 2005 robbery
Mike Cruz, Staff Writer
San Bernardino County Sun
SAN BERNARDINO - Authorities will not seek the death penalty against four men charged in a Redlands home invasion robbery in 2005 that left one person dead and two others wounded.
Prosecutor Rod Cortez said Friday that special circumstances charges, which can be alleged when other felonies are committed in conjunction with murder, were filed against the defendants in San Bernardino Superior Court.
While special circumstances can make defendants eligible for capital punishment, top officials at the District Attorney's Office will not be seeking the death penalty against the four defendants, Donald Ray Shorts, Jamar Lavon Tucker, Michael Lamar Rose and Mark Elise Williams if they are convicted.
"The committee made the decision that the case warranted seeking life without parole," Cortez said following court proceedings.
Attorneys for the defendants, some of whom are suspected Los Angeles-area gang members, denied the additional charges during a brief arraignment Friday before Judge Arthur Harrison.
The men face charges of murder, attempted murder, carjacking, robbery and kidnapping. They are scheduled back in court Oct. 13 for a status hearing. Cortez was unsure when the trial might get under way in the case.
Authorities believe the victim, Michael Denmon, a rap musician who had produced several tapes, was carjacked in Los Angeles on April 22 and forced to go to a Redlands home where he lived with his mother, Peggy Faulkner and four children.
The assailants robbed the house and shot Faulkner, who was 51 at the time, and her 28-year-old nephew, Gerald Brooks Jr., officials said. Brooks died at the scene, but Faulkner survived, calling 9-1-1 after the assailants left the home with her son, Denmon.
Denmon was later dropped off in Fullerton, after being shot somewhere between there and Redlands, officials said. Denmon survived and made his way to a residence, where police were called.
Redlands police announced early on that the crimes were motivated by robbery and were not random.
Denmon's 2003 Land Rover and his mother's 1990s model Chrysler 300 were later found in Long Beach.
Tucker was arrested at his Los Angeles home in May 2005, while Shorts and Rose were taken into custody in Las Vegas. Not long after, Williams was arrested after he exited a bus in Long Beach.
www.sbsun.com/news/ci_4385696
Life without parole will be sought in fatal 2005 robbery
Mike Cruz, Staff Writer
San Bernardino County Sun
SAN BERNARDINO - Authorities will not seek the death penalty against four men charged in a Redlands home invasion robbery in 2005 that left one person dead and two others wounded.
Prosecutor Rod Cortez said Friday that special circumstances charges, which can be alleged when other felonies are committed in conjunction with murder, were filed against the defendants in San Bernardino Superior Court.
While special circumstances can make defendants eligible for capital punishment, top officials at the District Attorney's Office will not be seeking the death penalty against the four defendants, Donald Ray Shorts, Jamar Lavon Tucker, Michael Lamar Rose and Mark Elise Williams if they are convicted.
"The committee made the decision that the case warranted seeking life without parole," Cortez said following court proceedings.
Attorneys for the defendants, some of whom are suspected Los Angeles-area gang members, denied the additional charges during a brief arraignment Friday before Judge Arthur Harrison.
The men face charges of murder, attempted murder, carjacking, robbery and kidnapping. They are scheduled back in court Oct. 13 for a status hearing. Cortez was unsure when the trial might get under way in the case.
Authorities believe the victim, Michael Denmon, a rap musician who had produced several tapes, was carjacked in Los Angeles on April 22 and forced to go to a Redlands home where he lived with his mother, Peggy Faulkner and four children.
The assailants robbed the house and shot Faulkner, who was 51 at the time, and her 28-year-old nephew, Gerald Brooks Jr., officials said. Brooks died at the scene, but Faulkner survived, calling 9-1-1 after the assailants left the home with her son, Denmon.
Denmon was later dropped off in Fullerton, after being shot somewhere between there and Redlands, officials said. Denmon survived and made his way to a residence, where police were called.
Redlands police announced early on that the crimes were motivated by robbery and were not random.
Denmon's 2003 Land Rover and his mother's 1990s model Chrysler 300 were later found in Long Beach.
Tucker was arrested at his Los Angeles home in May 2005, while Shorts and Rose were taken into custody in Las Vegas. Not long after, Williams was arrested after he exited a bus in Long Beach.
www.sbsun.com/news/ci_4385696