State Supreme Court Won’t Hear Case of Two Convicted of Pasadena Murder

 In blog, Crime – MyNewsLA.com

State Supreme Court Won’t Hear Case of Two Convicted of Pasadena Murder

by Contributing Editor

The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to review the case of two men convicted of the Christmas Day 2012 killing of a civilian Sheriff’s Department employee who was struck by stray gunfire from a gang-related shooting in Pasadena.

Larry Darnell Bishop Jr. and Jerron Donald Harris were convicted in April 2016 of first-degree murder for Victor McClinton’s slaying, along with the attempted murder of the intended target, who was wounded and ended up crashing his vehicle into a tree.

Jurors also found true the special circumstance allegation of murder during a drive-by shooting against both defendants and a special circumstance allegation against Harris that the victim was killed while Harris was an active participant in a criminal street gang and that the murder was carried out to further the activities of a criminal street gang. Jurors rejected that allegation against Bishop, but found true a separate gang allegation against him along with gun allegations against both men.

The jury was the second to consider the case against them; the first panel had deadlocked in July 2015.

The fatally injured victim — who was active in mentoring and coaching youth sports — was shot while walking a friend to his car when gunfire erupted at Newport Avenue and Wyoming Street. Pasadena police arrested Bishop three days after the shooting of the 49-year-old law enforcement technician and father of two, and Harris was taken into custody early the following month.

“There is a massive hole in my heart that will never be filled,” McClinton’s widow told the judge in April 2017 when Bishop and Harris were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. “How do you learn to continue on with life? This is pain I would not wish on anyone. It is beyond devastating. Some days are simply unbearable and you can’t imagine how to keep moving. How will I find peace? How will my family and I heal? I don’t think anyone ever heals from such a tragic, unnecessary ordeal like this. You just continue to function like a robot going from day to day, but never really getting over the grief.”

Shelly McClinton said her husband was the “type of person who believed in helping out anyone in need” and cried as she heard a tape-recording of his voice from the time he was honored as KNX’s Hero of the Week for his work with youth sports.

The victim’s widow testified in June 2015 that she originally thought the shots were fireworks, but then discovered her husband laying on the ground.

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All credit goes to Contributing Editor
Originally published on https://mynewsla.com

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