2 Men Who Stole a Car and Then Killed Owner Get Maximum Sentences : Crime: The 19-year-old victim was shot as he clung to his moving vehicle in an effort to prevent the theft.

Two men were sentenced Friday in San Fernando Superior Court to lengthy prison terms for fatally shooting a North Hollywood teen-ager and stealing the $2,000 sports car he had advertised for sale.

Kent Derek Parrish, 22, of West Los Angeles, who fired the gun, was sent to prison for 27 years to life, and his accomplice, Ronald Lewis Fort, 21, of Culver City was sentenced to 26 years to life.

They were convicted Nov. 30 of first-degree murder for the slaying 14 months earlier of Richard Ronald Davis, 19, who was shot when he tried to prevent the pair from stealing his red 1973 Datsun 240-Z.

Judge John P. Farrell said he was imposing the maximum terms because he felt it “only proper that you forfeit your youth for what you have done.” He also urged the pair, who will be eligible for parole after serving half their terms, to use their time in prison to “try to understand the evil of what you have done.”

Parrish was apprehended nearly one month after the slaying during a routine traffic stop in which he was driving Davis’ car. The car had been repainted and the vehicle identification numbers switched, said police, who later found the weapon used in the slaying in Parrish’s apartment.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Darlene Douglas, citing statements the two made to police at the time of their arrest, said the slaying occurred when the pair went to Davis’ residence, purportedly to examine a car offered for sale. They jumped in the car, locked the doors and tried to speed away.

Davis, a moving company employee, clung to the car for several blocks before Parrish shot him three times with a pistol, the prosecutor said.

Davis’ body was found a short time later two blocks from the Welby Way residence where he lived with his mother and sister, Douglas said.

Douglas said prosecutors did not ask for the death penalty because the case “didn’t quite fit our standards for a capital case, in that it didn’t start out as a murder. Basically, it was an auto-theft case that developed into murder.”

Publicity about the slaying generated public concern because classified advertisements are a common method of selling used cars.

Police issued an advisory urging sellers to have a friend or relative meet strangers before going on a test drive. They also encouraged sellers to write down the license plate number of the vehicle that potential buyers arrive in and to let a friend or relative know when they expect to return from a test drive.