COMPTON : Council Rejects Claim in Police Slaying Case
City Council members have rejected a $125-million claim filed by a witness in a murder case who said his mother was killed as a result of his scheduled testimony.
Calvin Cooksey, the key witness in the murders of two Compton police officers, said authorities ignored a July 24 note threatening his mother and other family members. On Aug. 6, his mother, Viola Pirtle Woods, was shot to death as she pushed her shopping cart near the Nickerson Gardens housing project in Los Angeles.
Cooksey contends that his mother was killed in revenge for his scheduled testimony against Regis Thomas, who has been charged in the deaths of Compton Police Officers Kevin Michael Burrell and James Wayne MacDonald.
Police said they believe a street gang to which Thomas belonged was involved in Woods’ death, but that her death was an accident rather than an act of vengeance. Woods was caught in a cross-fire and was not the intended target, according to Los Angeles Police Detective Otis Marlow, who is investigating the case.
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