Man Gets Life in Slaying of Alexander Kin

A South-Central Los Angeles gang member was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his part in the mistaken-identity shootings of four relatives of retired professional football star Kermit Alexander.

Horace Burns, 19, who stared impassively as he was sentenced by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Aurelio Munoz, was convicted by a jury last June of four counts of first-degree murder in the August, 1984, slayings. The same jury subsequently rejected the district attorney’s request that Burns receive the death penalty.

Killed in the attack were Alexander’s mother, Ebora, 58; his sister, Dietra, 24, and nephews Damani Garner, 13, and Damon Bonner, 8. Another nephew, Ivan Bonner, 13, escaped death by hiding in a closet while Alexander’s brother, Neal, 33, was able to flee the West 59th Street residence after grappling with one of the intruders.

In pronouncing sentence, Munoz said, “I do not believe he should ever be released from prison. This was a vicious attack in the early morning hours. If not for the grace of God, there would have been six victims, not four.”

Gangland-Style Execution

During Burns’ seven-week trial, witnesses said the lanky defendant waited outside the Alexander home in a van while two other gang members, whose trials are still pending, entered the home by mistake and shot the victims gangland-style.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Sterling E. Norris presented evidence that the gunmen had apparently intended to shoot the inhabitants of another home on the same block--either as a contract killing or as retaliation for a narcotics-related shoot-out.

Norris termed Burns’ sentence “satisfactory,” saying, “It sends a message to the gangs of Los Angeles County.”

“If you go (to a crime scene) knowing what’s going to happen,” he explained, “you are liable to be held just as liable as the one who does the killing.”

In a letter to the judge, 11 Alexander family members said, “Each of us is not and will not be the same. We are angry because of the pain and suffering we are going through. . . . We have been sentenced to a life of suffering because of the killings of our loved ones.”

An Oct. 7 trial date has been set for co-defendant Tiequon Aundray Cox, 18. The trial of the third defendant, Darren Charles Williams, 24, is expected to begin early next year.