3 Convicted in Student’s Slaying Receive Lengthy Prison Sentences

Shackled and watched closely by deputies, three men were sentenced Monday to lengthy prison terms for their roles in the murder of Corie Williams, a high school student caught in gang gunfire as she rode home from school on an MTA bus.

After Corie’s relatives and a friend told a silent courtroom of the loss they still feel, Superior Court Judge Victoria M. Chavez sentenced triggerman Robert “Baby Kiko” Johnson, 18, to 35 years to life in prison.

Randall Amado, 18, and Wilbert Pugh, 22, received 27 years-to-life terms for their involvement in the ambush, which had been planned to target rival gang members riding on the bus in South-Central Los Angeles.

The long sentences capped a case that some feared would be overlooked because of the publicity given to another killing the same day--the murder of comedian Bill Cosby’s son, Ennis.

But the memory of the bright and popular Centennial High School student has been kept alive by Corie’s friends and relatives, in particular her mother, Loretta Thomas-Davis, who helped set up a scholarship fund in her daughter’s honor.

After the sentencing, Thomas-Davis offered forgiveness to the three defendants and sympathy for their families. But she insisted that the men not forget the suffering they had inflicted.

“I know their families are hurting, with their sons being taken to prison, but their sons are still here,” she told reporters. “They can visit them in prison. I have to go to the cemetery.”

Only the occasional muffled sob from the defendants’ supporters punctuated Monday’s proceedings--a stark contrast to the tumult that marked a hearing last month when the guilty verdicts were announced. As family members screamed in disapproval and Pugh tried to leave prematurely, Amado sprung from his chair and lunged at the prosecutor before deputies intervened.

Before pronouncing the sentences, Chavez told the courtroom that she wanted to “make it clear that I did not consider in any way the behavior of the defendants in court” that day.

But the heightened security offered a reminder of the melee. Five burly deputies stood ready to prevent a repeat. The defendants wore handcuffs and waist chains. Deputy Dist. Atty. Bobby Grace told the men: “I don’t want you to think that I have any personal animus toward you or your families.” Then, singling out Amado, he added: “If you had not been part of the group, if you had not shared the intent of the group, you wouldn’t be sitting there today.”

On Jan. 16, 1997, Amado was allegedly with a group of Crips gang members, including Pugh and Johnson, that had planned to ambush rival Bloods gang members riding the MTA Route 53 bus through their turf. Corie, who had no gang ties, took the same bus from her Compton school to her South-Central home every day.

The group met the bus near Avalon Boulevard and Imperial Highway. Prosecutors said Johnson thrust a semiautomatic .40-caliber pistol through the window and opened fire, striking Corie in the neck. Corie’s seatmate, 18-year-old Tammi Freeman, was wounded in the shoulder.

When Bill Cosby learned of Corie’s death, he called the 17-year-old’s mother to express his condolences. That, and comments made by then-Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams, gave the tragedy national attention.

On Monday, before the sentences were delivered, Amado’s attorney asked for a new trial. Richard La Pan argued that he had learned only recently that one witness, Warren Hardy, who had placed Amado at the scene of the crime, had a criminal record and was allegedly a member of the Bloods gang that the ambush was meant to target.

Had he known earlier, La Pan argued, he could have tried to use the information to discredit Hardy’s testimony. But Chavez dismissed the motion.

“Mr. Hardy . . . was not the only witness who placed Mr. Amado at the scene,” she ruled.

Wearing jailhouse jumpsuits, the three men then listened to friends and relatives of the victims address the court about their loss.

As Corie’s friend Marcy Chavez spoke, Pugh and Johnson sat with their heads bowed. Amado stared at Chavez, showing no emotion.

“My heart is no longer filled with pain but with joy that justice has been served,” the 18-year-old told the court through heavy sobs. She told the defendants that Corie had “paid for your mistakes with her life. . . . I do hope that one day you realize in jail how much damage you’ve done.”

Corie’s uncle, Arthur Williams, told the men they were “forgiven” but urged them to deter their “homeboys” from engaging in similar violence.