Man Gets 3 Consecutive Life Terms for Killing 2 Brothers

A man convicted of murdering two brothers he had helped cheat out of most of a $380,000 inheritance was sentenced Thursday to three consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Timothy Mack was convicted of posing as a letter carrier to approach Howard Byrdsong, 20, and his 18-year-old brother, Jontrae, in 2001 at their Inglewood home. Each was fatally shot.

The Byrdsongs had complained to authorities that they had been swindled out of their late mother’s life insurance proceeds by Mack and Angela Fawn Wallace, a onetime Beverly Hills attorney who represented such celebrities as former basketball star Magic Johnson and rapper Dr. Dre.

The mother, Shiree Arrant, an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, died of cancer in June 2000. Both Mack, 50, and Wallace, who represented the Byrdsongs in the insurance matter, have been convicted of embezzling $295,000 from the brothers.

Wallace used a forged power of attorney to deposit the Byrdsongs’ insurance check, then spent the money herself. Wallace twice offered to pay the brothers off to keep quiet about the embezzlement, but they refused and went to authorities a month before their murders, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said the murder probe is still open.

Mack also was convicted of the unrelated murder of Norman Fields on April 17, 2000.

In the Byrdsong case, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson imposed the sentence after denying Mack’s request for a new trial. Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron Goudy prosecuted the case.