2 Sentenced in Death of Robbery Victim

Two Northridge men were sentenced Tuesday to 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the death of a Granada Hills woman dragged by a car as she tried to keep a robber from taking her purse.

In a deal with prosecutors, Michael P. Kellet, 22, and Richard E. Phillips, 20, who had been charged with murder in connection with the death of Freda Crawford, 83, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge.

Prosecutors said Crawford’s death in April, 1989, resulted from injuries suffered in the March, 1988, robbery in a supermarket parking lot.

Crawford was loading groceries into her car at Devonshire Street and Balboa Boulevard when a car drove up and the driver grabbed her purse, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing in April.

A witness said Crawford was dragged alongside the car for 60 feet as she struggled to hold on to her purse. She fell as the car swerved; her head was run over by one of the car’s rear wheels.

Kellet and Phillips were arrested the next day after a boy who had heard news accounts of the robbery saw a car that matched the description of the suspects’ vehicle.

Both men were convicted earlier on two counts of robbery--one involving Crawford and the other an earlier purse snatching.