2 get life in killing of store owner
Two men who robbed and killed a Westside liquor store owner a week before Christmas in 2004 were sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Eric Butler, 26, and Kenneth Peoples, 24, were each ordered by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lance Ito to serve an additional 25-year-to-life term for using a firearm during the crime.
On Dec. 18, 2004, two people wearing masks and carrying guns entered Jae Wong Yang’s St. Regis Liquor Store at 3rd Street and Orlando Avenue near the Beverly Center. Yang, 59, of Oxnard was then shot in the face.
Butler and Peoples were convicted March 8 of capital murder, first-degree murder and second-degree robbery, along with the special circumstance of murder committed during a robbery .
The district attorney’s office decided before trial not to seek the death penalty, spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.
Initially, five people had been charged in connection with Yang’s death, including Robert Arceneaux, 26, and Letoya Robinson, 24, who were accused of helping case the store the day before, officials said. Arceneaux and Robinson were sentenced in March.
Arceneaux received five years in state prison and Robinson received 967 days in jail and five years’ probation.
The case against a fifth suspect was dismissed, Gibbons said.
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