Man Sentenced in Shotgun Assault
A member of a gang that went on a robbery spree and shot a vacationing Huntington Beach police officer was sentenced Wednesday to nearly 30 years in prison.
Soloman E. James, 20, pleaded guilty in September to attempted murder in the 1990 shotgun assault on Officer Robert Barr, who was visiting San Diego with his family.
The officer, then 42, was at a motel in civilian clothes when the robbers entered and demanded his wallet. When he told them he did not have one, they shot him twice, critically wounding him.
The assailant at the Hampton Inn on Kearney Mesa Road, Tommy Joe Gamble, was sentenced earlier this month to 54 years in prison.
James also pleaded guilty to 13 counts of robbery, four of which involved using a gun. He was sentenced to 29 years, 8 months in prison under a plea bargain.
James is serving a federal prison term of 10 years for drug possession. He will be allowed to serve 10 years of his state prison sentence in the federal prison system.
A third defendant who pleaded guilty in the case, Eric Culver, was sentenced last year to nine years in the California Youth Authority; he was a juvenile at the time of the crimes.
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