Man Who Killed in Advance of Robbery Gets Life Term

A bank robber who was also convicted of murder in an unprecedented federal prosecution was sentenced to life in prison Monday.

U.S. District Judge Harry L. Hupp imposed the penalty on Gregory Lewis, 33, for the killing of a 22-year-old Vietnamese immigrant before the biggest bank robbery in Southern California history.

A federal jury found Lewis guilty on Jan. 22 of the premeditated murder of Tuong Truong, 22.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Nora Manella said Lewis wanted to steal Truong’s van as a getaway vehicle for the Oct. 28, 1983, armed robbery of the Family Savings and Loan Assn. office at 3683 S. Crenshaw Blvd.

Lewis killed Truong to prevent him from identifying Lewis, the prosecutor added.

Four Masked Gunmen

Four armed robbers wearing masks--one a likeness of former President Richard Nixon--took $228,241 from the bank, and an FBI investigation led to the arrest of Lewis, also known as Marzuk Shariff.

Manella said Monday that Lewis is the first bank robbery defendant convicted of murder under federal statutes involving a slaying in advance of the commission of a bank or savings and loan heist.

She described Lewis as the ringleader of the four robbers. Two accomplices, Kevin Jackson, 30, and Augustus Evans, 24, were convicted on lesser charges of armed larceny last year and are serving 15-year prison terms. The fourth alleged member of the group, Derrick Stevens, 32, remains at large.

A vault teller at the savings and loan, Norman Ward, 24, admitted after the robbery that he knew the robbers and had worked with them as an accomplice. He received a four-year prison sentence last year.

Hupp sentenced Lewis to life in prison after first allowing the convicted robber to deliver a booming courtroom speech in his own behalf.

Objects to Characterization

“I have not been an angel, but I am not the the diabolical, brutal beast the government has portrayed me to be,” Lewis said.

He said the government’s contention that he “would take a life is a lie. . . .

“I would like to say that in the government’s attack on me, they did not leave a stone unturned. But in their effort, they overlooked a piece of coal that one day could be a diamond.

“I may be a diamond with rough edges now,” Lewis continued. “But I know that given time to ponder the situation I believe that one day I will be a perfect diamond. I don’t fear what men can do to me.”

Hupp responded that, even though he was sentencing Lewis to life in prison, Lewis would be eligible for parole after “a long period” of hard work.

“Mr. Lewis, you are a very eloquent man,” he said. “But I am giving you this sentence because I believe you murdered that man. . . . I wish you would have used that talent to better purpose.”

Sam Jackson, Lewis’ attorney, said he would appeal the sentence on the grounds that the federal murder statute is unconstitutional.