2 Sentenced in Death of Boy From Group Home

At the sentencing of the two teenagers who beat her foster son to death, Diedra Lampley asked Wednesday that a photograph be included in the court file.

The snapshot was not the smiling Little League mug of Rodney Haynes she wears on a button on her lapel. It was a photo of his gravestone.

“I wanted them to know that somebody had feelings for Rodney,” Lampley said after the court hearing.

Superior Court Judge Steven Suzukawa sentenced Brandon Sewell, 17, and Gregory Smith, 19, to 16 years to life in prison. They had pleaded guilty in January to charges of second-degree murder in the killing of Rodney Haynes 18 months ago.

The 12-year-old boy was slain outside a convenience store near a Calabasas group home for juvenile delinquents where all three had been placed by the Los Angeles County Probation Department.

Sewell and Smith told authorities they punched and kicked Haynes, then beat him with a rock and a stick because he was “mouthing off” as they worked out plans to steal beer from the market. They tossed his body in a dumpster behind the store.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Lampley read a letter addressed to the defendants.

“I hope the next 16 years in prison will at least teach you that you can’t kill for any reason,” she said. “Nine days from today, Rodney would have celebrated his 14th birthday.”

After Haynes’ death, the county Probation Department was widely criticized for having housed him with older, more serious offenders at a group home that did not have permanent nighttime supervision.

Haynes had been at Passageways group home for six days when he was killed. He was sent there after authorities said he robbed a video store.

Sewell and Smith were not only older but significantly larger. Haynes weighed about 85 pounds. Smith weighed more than 200 pounds, and he and Sewell towered over the victim.

They also had more serious criminal records.

Smith was made a ward of the Juvenile Court after sexually assaulting a 2-year-old neighbor when he was 13. He was tossed out of nine group homes in three years for stealing, fighting or running away before he was sent to camp. After completing the camp program, he was sent to Passageways, which specialized in helping teenagers get jobs.

Sewell--who began his criminal career when he was 10 by breaking into neighbors’ homes--had also escaped from or been thrown out of a number of group homes before he was put in Passageways.

The youths returned to the home after the killing and denied any involvement, but eventually confessed.

Two months after Haynes’ killing, county Probation Director Walter J. Kelly acknowledged his department’s failure and announced a series of reforms, such as segregating delinquents of different ages and criminal backgrounds.