Man, 25, Sentenced in Double Murder
A reputed gang member was sentenced Tuesday to 58 years to life in prison for two slayings, including the murder of a church elder who was gunned down as he prayed in a Los Angeles telephone booth.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge J. Michael Byrne sentenced Todd Lavera, 25, for his role as an accomplice in the murders of Leopoldo Salgado of Los Angeles and David Eugene Thompson, an elder of the Greater Zion Apostolic Church in Santa Ana.
Thompson, 27, of Tustin and Salgado, 48, were robbed and killed within 90 minutes of each other in South-Central Los Angeles in 1987. Prosecutors said Lavera and two other young men wanted money to buy beer.
“The whole set of circumstances is outrageous,” Byrne told Lavera.
Byrne also ordered Lavera to pay $10,000 each to the Salgado and Thompson families as restitution.
Lavera, who was not the triggerman, had faced life in prison without the possibility of parole. But Byrne said there was not enough evidence to show that Lavera intended to kill Thompson and Salgado.
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