Key Torching Case Witness Gets Prison Term
A white suspect who became a prosecution witness in the torching of a black tourist will serve no more than 6 1/2 years in prison, and he said Friday that he had little sympathy for two friends he helped put away for life.
“I saw what they done,” 18-year-old Jeffery Pellett said after his sentencing. “They done it and now they’re going to do the time for it.”
Prosecutors said Pellett’s cooperation under a plea bargain helped convict fellow white laborers Mark Kohut, 27, and Charles Rourk, 33, in the attack on Christopher Wilson, a stock brokerage clerk on vacation from New York.
Kohut and Rourk were sentenced to life in prison for attempted murder, kidnaping and robbery.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
