LOS ANGELES : Youth Gets 6 Years for Assault During Riots

An 18-year-old acquitted in the shooting death of a Long Beach motorcyclist during the 1992 riots was sentenced Monday to nearly six years in the California Youth Authority for assault and conspiracy charges in the incident.

Brent Lamar Jones was given a 5-year, 8-month term by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Nancy Brown, who also ordered the Long Beach resident to pay $5,000 to a crime victims’ restitution fund.

Jones was one of three men prosecuted for allegedly attacking Matthew Haines on April 30, 1992. The 32-year-old auto mechanic and his nephew, Scott Coleman, were knocked off Haines’ motorcycle, then beaten and shot by a rioting mob. Haines died but Coleman survived.

A jury in February acquitted Jones, Larry Williams, 24, and Fabian Nixon, 19, of murder, but convicted them of assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit burglary.

Williams and Nixon were also sentenced to 5-year, 8-month terms, but in state prison. Jones, who was 16 when the crimes were committed, was ordered to the California Youth Authority for evaluation prior to Monday’s sentencing.