Teenager Gets Life in Killing of Twin Girls
A teenager who fatally shot his 15-year-old former girlfriend and her twin sister in their Inglewood home in 1999 was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole.
Richard Allen Washington III, 19, sat quietly as Torrance Superior Court Judge Mark S. Arnold sentenced him in the May 24, 1999, shooting deaths of Tara Butler, who had dated Washington, and her sister Terassa.
As part of an agreement with the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, Washington pleaded guilty in December to two counts of first-degree murder, with special circumstances of multiple murder, and the personal use of a gun, his lawyer said. He also waived his right to an appeal.
The twins had told police that Washington argued with them at a restaurant and that he had hit at least one of them with a cast on his arm.
About four hours later, the twins were found dead at their home in the 400 block of West Kelso Street.
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