The Region : Jury Gives Life Term to Alexander Killer

A jury has rejected the death penalty and decided that a sentence of life in prison without parole should be imposed on the first of three men to go to trial in the killings of four members of the family of former UCLA and Los Angeles Rams football star Kermit Alexander. Horace Burns, 22, a gang member convicted in the Aug. 31, 1984, slayings, will be sentenced formally on Aug. 16 by Superior Court Judge Aurelio Munoz. Burns, Tiequon Aundray Cox, 18, and Darren Charles Williams, 24, were accused of murdering the four people in what police believe was a mistaken-identity killing. Witnesses said that Burns waited outside the Alexander home in a van while the other two allegedly burst into the house and opened fire.