Woman Gets 27 Years to Life for Murder : Crime: She was convicted of shooting a construction worker who she claimed gave drugs to her daughter.

A Lancaster woman was sentenced Friday to 27 years to life in prison for murdering a construction worker who she claimed gave drugs to her teen-age daughter.

Lancaster Superior Court Judge Margaret Grignon gave Belita Fox the mandatory sentence of 25 years to life for murder, adding two years because Fox used a gun to kill Kevin Furman, 26.

The sentence means that Fox, 41, will serve about 18 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole, her lawyer said.

Fox said she shot Furman five times after storming into his bedroom in a house in Lancaster where young people often gathered. She had gone to the house, Fox said, to confront Furman with allegations that he gave drugs to her runaway 17-year-old daughter. Fox claimed that she shot Furman only after he made a threatening move.

However, evidence presented last month during Fox’s trial showed that Furman was shot as he lay on his back in bed. And although a witness testified that Furman used drugs and sold methamphetamine on two occasions, there was no indication that he gave drugs to Fox’s daughter, Cheryl Wilson.

Fox’s lawyer, Vincent Oliver, said he had expected that his client would get 27 years in prison instead of probation--the only other sentencing option. Oliver said he would appeal the sentence.

In a brief statement to Grignon, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Foltz characterized Fox as a dangerous woman who irrationally targeted Furman because her family life was disintegrating.

“She struck out in a way that our society cannot tolerate,” Foltz said. “I don’t feel the defendant has done anything to justify sympathy.”

About 30 of Furman’s friends and relatives attended the hearing, wearing “Justice for Kevin” T-shirts and buttons that were part of a campaign to clear Furman of Fox’s allegations that he was a drug dealer. They said they were satisfied that the emotionally wrenching case had ended.

“My son did nothing wrong,” said Jean Harmon, Furman’s mother. “He was a human being. She stole his future from him because of screwed-up ideas in her head.”

Cheryl Wilson--who is now 18 and lives with friends in the Antelope Valley, according to acquaintances--did not attend the trial. Her sister, 21-year-old Christy Wilson, said Furman was not blameless.

“He was no saint,” she said. “My mother was no saint, either. I don’t believe what she did was right. But she’s my mother and I love her.”