Life Term Urged for Police Death
Jurors today recommended a sentence of life in prison without parole for a reputed gang member convicted of murdering a Los Angeles police officer during a gun battle in a Chinatown jewelry store in 1984.
The superior court jury spared Sang Nam Chinh, 22, from a death sentence, the only other punishment he faced. Chinh was convicted in February of murdering Officer Duane Johnson, 27, during a attempted robbery of Jin Hing Jade Jewelry and Antiques. Chinh was also convicted of murdering an accomplice and attempting to murder another police officer and the storekeeper’s son and of robbing the store. He will be sentenced at a later date.
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