Convictions of Three Gang Members Upheld for Lennox Killing
Convictions of Three Gang Members Upheld for Lennox Killing
by Contributing Editor
A state appeals court panel has upheld the convictions of three gang members for two shootings that occurred about three hours apart in Lennox, including one that left a man dead and his wife seriously wounded.
In a ruling released Tuesday, the three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that there were errors in the trial of Lebanon Fifita, Samisoni Lauaki and Otoniel Ventura-Leon.
The three — who are each serving state prison terms of about 100 years to life — were convicted of first-degree murder for the Nov. 9, 2015, shooting death of Kenneth Campos, 37, in Lennox as he and his wife were outside a doughnut shop where doughnuts were given away early each morning.
Fifita, Lauaki and Ventura-Leon were also found guilty of trying to kill Campos’ wife, along with the attempted murder of a man walking in Lennox as he talked on the phone with his father.
The three were tried along with co-defendants Taniela Fonoifua, Fonuamana Ofeina Fuahala and Calvin Leonard Tonga.
Fonoifua was convicted of first-degree murder for the Oct. 6, 2015, slaying of Sheila Gomez, 40, in Lennox, and the Oct. 17, 2015, death of Adalberto Salcedo III, 15, in Carson, along with two counts of attempted murder involving a man with Gomez and a separate shooting on Jan. 26, 2016, in Gardena.
Fuahala and Tonga were also convicted of Campos’ killing, along with two counts of attempted murder.
Jurors also found true gang allegations against the six men.
The state appeals court panel noted in its 89-page ruling that “the precipitating event for this crime spree was apparently a four-month-old incident during which Fonoifua himself, as well as Fuahala, suffered multiple gunshot wounds from an attack by rival gang members” and that there was “overwhelming evidence of guilt” of Fifita, Lauaki and Ventura-Leon.
“The evidence amply shows that appellants entered into an agreement to go after those who they suspected to be members of rival Hispanic gangs and took acts in furtherance of that agreement,” the panel found.
The appellate court justices noted that the prosecution presented evidence of the three “traveling around with other gang members in a caravan of two vehicles searching for victims, shooting them, and conferring at a restaurant in between the shootings.”
Along with the three victims who were killed, four people were wounded in the series of shootings.
Deputy District Attorney Heather Steggell told jurors that the six defendants are members of a “violent, ruthless criminal street gang” made up primarily of Pacific Islanders.
Like other gangs, they commit “graffiti, robberies, burglaries, assault with deadly weapons and murder,” but the difference with the defendants’ gang is that they “will shoot anybody,” the prosecutor told jurors.
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All credit goes to Contributing Editor
Originally published on https://mynewsla.com
