2 Sentenced in $285,000 Theft From Coliseum

Two men convicted of robbing the Coliseum of $285,000 in 1983 were sentenced Friday to prison terms of nine and seven years. But the prosecutor in the case declared in court that he was “shocked” by the decision of Superior Court Judge Dion G. Morrow not to impose a stiffer sentence on one of the men, Haley James, who has four previous felony convictions for robberies, grand theft and burglary.

James, 32, of San Francisco, could be paroled in 2 1/2 years, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Reid Rose, since James has already received mandatory credit of about two years for time served in jail since his arrest. Reid had recommended a maximum 12-year term for James.

David Spellman, 22, of South Los Angeles, was sentenced to the seven-year prison term. Spellman, who had no previous convictions, faced an 11-year maximum sentence, Rose said.

The pair, along with Steven Louis Jackson, who is to be sentenced Monday, were convicted of having overpowered and locked up an off-duty policeman and several employees in a Coliseum money-counting room after a Los Angeles Raiders pro football game Oct. 30, 1983. During the robbery, a cocked .45-caliber pistol was placed in the face of the officer, testimony showed.

Only $5,000 of the loot was recovered, Rose said, and James “told police when he was arrested that his cut was $100,000--he has that stashed for when he gets out.”

A jury convicted both defendants of four counts of robbery based on the fact that there were multiple victims in the counting room. Morrow, however, sentenced the pair on only one count each, declaring that the crime was “only one robbery.”