The Region : Killer Sentenced to Life Without Parole

A Compton man has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the 1985 slaying of Compton grocer Eddie Warren Adams. Leon Watts, 19, who was free on his own recognizance pending sentencing on kidnaping charges at the time of the Adams murder, struck the owner of the A & A Meat Co. on the back of the head with a baseball bat during a robbery. Adams, trial testimony showed, had known the young assailant since Watts was an infant and was caught off guard by the attack. The victim was the founder of two Baptist churches and had run unsuccessfully for seats on the Compton City Council and school board.