Woman Given 11 Years in Killing : Son Shot Deputy but She Bought Gun, Ran ‘Crack’ House

Calling the case an “American drug tragedy,” a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge on Friday sentenced a South-Central Los Angeles woman to the maximum--11 years in prison--for her role in the death of a sheriff’s deputy who was shot during a drug raid at a “crack” house she ran.

Dorothy Waters, 41, had pleaded guilty to a charge of voluntary manslaughter, despite the fact that her son, Edward L. Walker, 20, fired the shots that killed Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detective Jack Miller, 33, on the night of Jan. 8, 1988.

Waters was originally charged with second-degree murder, but was allowed to plead to the lesser count.

Her son, who was known as “Easy Ed” on the street, killed himself moments after the gun battle that erupted when Miller and other deputies forced their way into the family’s rented house, armed with a warrant to search for rock cocaine that authorities said was being sold there.

When a Superior Court jury in May failed to reach a verdict in Waters’ murder trial, she pleaded guilty to manslaughter rather than risk the consequences of a second trial, according to her attorney, William Lawrence McKinney.

Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. David E. Demerjian acknowledged that the filing of a murder charge against Waters was “unusual” under the circumstances.

“The theory we were proceeding under was unique--a woman charged with murder who obviously didn’t pull the trigger,” Demerjian said in an interview. “But she rented the house, she put up a steel door and barred the windows, she bought guns for her son because he was too young to do so himself, and she sold cocaine there.”

‘Legally Responsible’

“As her son’s co-conspirator,” Demerjian added, “she is legally and morally responsible for his actions--and the consequences of their illegal occupation.”

McKinney did not dispute that fact when he requested leniency for his client from Superior Court Judge Alexander H. Williams III.

“Mrs. Waters is no Ma Barker; she is simply a mother living with her sons in a hostile ghetto environment,” McKinney said. “Ed was a major drug dealer in the area, no one denies that. . . . It was Ed’s operation, she knew about it, but did nothing to stop it.”

However, McKinney also said that since Waters had no previous record of contact with law enforcement she deserved the lowest possible prison term.

With her two young daughters at her side, Miller’s widow, Donna, however, tearfully pleaded in court for the maximum sentence.

“Jack and I lived together for 10 years. He was taken from us for such a ridiculous thing,” Donna Miller said in a trembling voice. “Please give the defendant the maximum sentence so that his death will not be in vain.”

Judge Williams took that argument into consideration when he handed down his sentence as Waters sat impassively beside her attorney and stared at the floor. Waters made no statement on her own behalf.

“There is no doubt but that this case is an American drug tragedy,” Williams said. “It would not have happened if not for the drug business at this residence. I select the high term.”

Miller, a narcotics detective who worked out of the Lennox station, was wearing a raid jacket that had “Sheriff” emblazoned on the back in large gold letters when he was shot in the back of the head as he entered the house with a search warrant. He died a day later at County-USC Medical Center.

Another deputy wounded in the raid, John Dickenson, 30, received treatment for a gunshot wound he received while providing cover for backup officers trying to remove Miller’s body from the house.