Man Gets Life Term for Riot Murder

A North Hollywood man who is the only person convicted of murder in connection with the Los Angeles riots last year was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for a killing that took place on the first night of unrest.

Traville Craig, 19, was convicted of first-degree murder last month for using a board to strike Elias Garcia Rivera, who was the only riot-related fatality in the San Fernando Valley.

Garcia was hit in the head a few hours after four Los Angeles police officers were found not guilty in the first Rodney G. King beating trial and violence erupted throughout the city.

Although the altercation in North Hollywood was minor compared to the unrest in other parts of the city, Deputy Dist. Atty. Shellie Samuels said Craig and several other black men were using “the intimidation factor of the riots” as they attempted to extort money from a group of Latino men outside an apartment complex on Vanowen Street near Coldwater Canyon Avenue.

Officially, at least 53 people died as a result of the rioting, but the district attorney’s office filed murder charges in only three cases, a spokesman said.

Three men were acquitted on murder charges, but convicted of lesser assault charges in an attack that led to the death of a Long Beach motorcyclist on the second day of the riots.

A Pasadena Superior Court jury was unable to reach a decision this summer in a murder trial involving two men accused of killing an Altadena woman. Prosecutors say they will retry the pair, even though only four members of the jury in the first trial favored guilt on the first-degree murder charge.

Craig’s defense attorney, Dale K. Galipo, made an impassioned plea to Van Nuys Superior Court Judge John Fisher to reduce the conviction to second-degree murder “in the furtherance of justice.”

Life without parole “is not a just sentence under the circumstances,” Galipo said.

Although Craig maintains that he was acting in self-defense, he was convicted under a law that makes anyone committing a felony liable for first-degree murder if someone is killed as a result of that crime.

The jury found that Craig was attempting to rob a man when Garcia came to his rescue, only to be hit with the board.

“There was no specific intent by Mr. Craig to kill anyone,” Galipo said before Fisher denied his request to reduce the charges.

“That kind of mentality of a person who would do this while the city was in the condition it was in is clearly a factor in aggravation,” Fisher said.

The incident started when Craig and several other black men approached a group of Latinos who were drinking beer outside their apartment building.

After some discussion concerning King, one of the Latino men, Victor Medina, offered $2 to a fund that Craig said would be used to retry to the white police officers. When Craig saw that Medina had more money in his wallet, according to the testimony, Craig demanded the wallet and chased Medina inside the complex.

Medina and a teen-ager who lived in the complex testified that Craig chased Medina around the building before cornering him on a second-floor landing. They testified that Craig armed himself with a 2 1/2-foot-long board and demanded Medina’s wallet.

When Medina refused, Craig hit Medina in the forehead with the board. The jury also convicted Craig of assault with a deadly weapon for the attack on Medina, which caused an injury that required nearly 20 stitches to close. Fisher sentenced Craig to eight years in prison for this part of the attack.

Moments after Medina crumpled to the ground, Garcia ran up a nearby stairway and was hit in the head when he reached the top.

Hours after the April 29, 1992, attack, the 32-year-old Garcia underwent emergency surgery, but fell into a coma. He died eight months later, making him the 53rd victim of the riots.

Although prosecutors portrayed Craig as an opportunist exploiting tensions on the first night of the riots, Craig said that he was acting in self-defense. Craig testified that Medina and another man hit him in the face outside the apartment building and Medina later attempted to smash him with a chair.

As he did throughout his trial, Craig smiled during all of Monday’s proceedings. Galipo said it was a nervous reaction Craig has in stressful situations.

Outside court, Galipo said the outcome of Craig’s case is “just not right,” suggesting that the verdict “could be a product of the times and the political climate (also) could be.

“The Rodney King thing is still hanging around,” as is the Reginald Denny beating case, he said.