A woman was re-sentenced Thursday to five years in state prison for a September 2019 attack in which a man was lit on fire in South Los Angeles.
Shalonda Christine Shaw’s case was sent back for re-sentencing in May by a state appellate court panel as a result of a recent change in state law.
Shaw, now 36, was convicted in September 2020 of felony mayhem. Jurors also found that she personally used a dangerous and deadly weapon — gasoline — during the Sept. 5, 2019, attack on the 36-year-old man.
The panel acquitted her of one count each of attempted murder, assault with caustic chemicals and arson causing great bodily injury.
The victim was sitting outside his tent in an encampment along the railroad tracks near the intersection of Slauson Boulevard and Western Avenue, according to the appellate court panel’s May 19 ruling.
The victim sustained burns over about 30% of his body, including his hands, feet and legs, authorities said soon after the attack.
Some of the gasoline landed on a 27-year-old woman, who sustained minor burns to her arms and declined treatment.
The appellate court panel noted in its ruling that Shaw had previously told the victim to stop selling drugs in the encampment. According to the ruling, the prosecution played a recording of an outgoing phone call Shaw made from jail in which she indicated that the victim had told her she could not sell drugs in the area, where she had been selling drugs since she was 10 years old. The appellate court added that Shaw believed the victim had cut her brother on the face.
The victim’s testimony — made during a hearing on whether the defendant should be allowed to attend a diversion program — was read aloud prior to Shaw’s initial sentencing in May 2021, in which Shaw was ordered to spend five years behind bars.
“I stand before you in the courtroom to expose both my pain and suffering,” he said during that earlier hearing. “On September 5, 2019, my life was drastically changed for the worse. I never experienced so much pain in my life. I thought I was dead. I was literally burning alive when I woke up in the hospital.”
He spoke about the series of surgeries he had to undergo over the next five weeks, as doctors removed his burnt skin and placed fish scales over his body to help heal the wounds. Doctors later used grafts from his legs to replace the skin on the rest of his body.
“My family was there by my side, every step of the way. My mother and my little sister took turns on spending the night in the hospital … sleeping in a chair, day in and day out,” he said, while his dad would drop by on his days off to deliver food and clothing.
“I couldn’t walk at all until my last surgery … my mother gave me baths and literally helped me use the restroom because I couldn’t get out of bed … it felt like I was a little kid again.”
Caring for him took a toll on his family, especially his 14-year-old son, who he said had an anxiety attack when he learned what happened to his father and had to be rushed to the hospital himself.
“(My doctor) told me I won’t be able to run or jump for the rest of my life,” the man testified. “This broke my heart because I won’t be able to do the things that my son loves to do … like basketball or football. I’m not even able to provide for my son like I’m supposed to.”
More than a year after the attack, he said, “Every day I live in fear that the defendant’s family will try to retaliate because she’s in jail. I’m always depressed, and I have isolated myself from everyone … No one will ever know the pain I’ve gone through. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.”