Man Sentenced in Fatal Shootings Near Campus

A reputed gang member was sentenced Thursday to 32 years to life in prison for the 1984 shooting deaths of a gang rival and an honors student outside Dorsey High School.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Pounders sentenced Edwin Oswald Smith, 32, to serve 15 years to life in one killing, plus an additional two years for the use of a firearm, as the 1984-era sentencing rules allowed, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Joseph Esposito.

For the second killing, Smith was ordered to serve 15 years to life.

School had just let out Jan. 20, 1984, when Smith, a reputed Crips gang member, fired at a group of Bloods across the street, according to testimony.

Bloods member Ronald Gregorie, 25, was killed, and 17-year-old Earnest Pickett Jr., a standout Dorsey student and athlete, was caught in the line of fire.

Smith was arrested shortly afterward and charged with both slayings. But a judge determined that prosecutors did not have enough evidence against him.

Detectives later reopened the case at the urging of Pickett’s mother, Lee Bertha Pickett-Allen. A new complaint was filed in 1994, based on the original evidence and new interviews with key witnesses who had previously been afraid to come forward.