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A Canyon Country man was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for fatally shooting a good Samaritan in front of the victim’s 7-year-old son after the victim rushed to the aid of a man who was being beaten and robbed on Halloween 2011.
Diamonte Jerome McGhee, 21, was convicted last Oct. 30 of first-degree murder for the Oct. 31, 2011, killing of Alejandro Sanchez-Torrez in Canyon Country.
Jurors found true a special circumstance allegation that the murder occurred during the commission of a robbery, along with an allegation that McGhee personally fired a handgun.
McGhee was also found guilty of one count of second-degree robbery, four counts of attempted murder and five counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Sanchez-Torrez was shot in the chest by McGhee and killed in front of his son after he rushed to help a man who was being beaten and robbed by McGhee and two other men, according to Deputy District Attorney Bradley Lieberman.
McGhee then shot the robbery victim in the leg, Lieberman said. That man survived.
Co-defendant Eric Michael Edwards, 21, of Lancaster, was sentenced April 9 to 30 years to life in state prison plus four life terms. He was convicted of one count each of first-degree murder and second-degree robbery and four counts each of attempted murder and assault with a semiautomatic firearm.
A third man, Branden Trevaughn Higgs, 20, of Lancaster, pleaded no contest April 15 to one count of voluntary manslaughter and two counts of attempted murder, and was immediately sentenced to 16 years and eight months in state prison.
— City News Service