Spring Valley

The getaway driver in the robbery that preceded the fatal shooting of Sheriff’s Cadet Kelly Bazer pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder.

The sentencing agreement with Prentice Byrd, 20, will allow him to serve his sentence with the California Youth Authority until he turns 25, when he will be transferred to state prison.

Byrd is the last co-defendant to come to trial in the Jan. 13, 1986, murder of Bazer, 28, in Spring Valley after a supermarket robbery. He pleaded guilty just as his case was to be assigned to a courtroom for trial.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Keith Burt said Byrd furnished the getaway truck in which Jesse Stuart, 20, and Ronnie Williams, 21, were to escape after the hold-up of the Safeway market on Sweetwater Road.

Burt said Byrd also furnished a gun held by Williams during the robbery. It was believed that Stuart shot Bazer in the back after she fled when he demanded her car keys.

Stuart is serving a prison sentence of 35 years to life, and Williams was sentenced Jan. 16 to nearly 34 years to life.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Wayne Peterson set Byrd’s sentencing for March 9 and ordered him held without bail. Byrd is expected to be sentenced to 15 years to life.

Byrd’s attorney, Charles Adair, said his client had no juvenile or felony records, and predicted that he will be released at his first parole hearing in about seven years.