Killer of 2 Women Gets 2 Life Terms

In his last chance to speak in court before going to prison for the rest of his life, a convicted double murderer raised his voice Tuesday, proclaiming his innocence.

“The bottom line is I didn’t kill Laurie Myles and I didn’t kill Talin Tarkhanian,” said Etienne Moore, 25, turning to face relatives of the two slain women.

“I promise you,” Moore added, then addressing his own family, “I’ll never stop fighting until my innocence is proven and I’m exonerated.”

Convicted in the murders of Tarkhanian and Myles, Moore was forced Tuesday to listen to the relatives of the two slain women express their hatred.

Moore was sentenced to two life terms without the possibility of parole, plus 17 years in prison. “That’s about all the time we can give you,” Los Angeles Superior Court Judge J.D. Smith said at the end of Tuesday’s hearing.

Moore was convicted of executing Tarkhanian, 20, at the request of her former boyfriend, co-defendant Shashonee Solomon, 35. Solomon, who had her killed because she had broken off their relationship, was also convicted of the murder. He was sentenced to 38 years to life in prison.

Moore, a former Faith Baptist High School basketball star, was one of a number of men involved in an armed robbery ring in the San Fernando Valley in 1993. During a four-month trial, Deputy Dist. Attys. Janice Maurizi and Edwin Greene outlined dozens of crimes Moore and a co-defendant, LaCedrick Johnson, 24, committed.

Myles, 37, was robbed in the September 1993 attack as she waited to pick up her teenage daughter from Bible study in Northridge. Moore fatally shot Myles as her terrified 9-year-old son watched. Johnson drove the getaway car and was sentenced earlier to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Moore in each of the slayings. But jurors, who had convicted him of the crimes in June, could not agree on whether he deserved to be executed or spend the rest of his life in prison.

Prosecutors chose not to try Moore again, in large part because the Tarkhanian family said they did not want to go through another trial.

Razmik Tarkhanian, the victim’s father, said in court Tuesday that he was happy that Moore, “a coward that killed defenseless people,” faces a lifetime in prison.

In the end, the long-awaited day of sentencing was a disappointment for Myles’ relatives. They said Moore should have received the death penalty.

Larry Hicks, Myles’ brother, spoke the longest. He had been the calm, eloquent voice of the family since shortly after Myles’ death, but on Tuesday he seethed with rage as he addressed the court.

“In my mind, I’ve executed you over 1,000 times,” he said. “Personally, I won’t have complete closure or peace until you are extracted from the prison system in a body bag.”

Myles’ son, who brought jurors to tears during the trial when he described his effort to save his dying mother by giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, also spoke Tuesday.

After Moore was sentenced, Joshua Myles, now 15, stood and said, “I just want you to look at me and tell me if you remember that day you said: ‘Should I shoot the kid?’ Do you remember?”

“No,” the defendant replied softly, shaking his head. “I don’t remember.”