A woman who pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter for being the getaway driver in the robbery-motivated murder of an MTV music coordinator and the killing of another man was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in state prison.
“I just ask for your forgiveness some day,” a tearful Destiny Young told family members of one of the victims, Gabriel Ben-Meir, who were in court for her sentencing.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen A. Marcus noted that the 35- year-old woman was “not the cold-blooded killer” that her then-boyfriend, Jabaar Vincent Thomas, was, but said she had “played a critical role in the killing of two human beings.”
Thomas, 31, was convicted March 11 of first-degree murder for the May 8, 2011, shooting death of Ben-Meir, a 30-year-old MTV music coordinator, near his mid-Wilshire apartment building, and the April 30, 2011, shooting death of Marcelo Aragon, a 35-year-old father of two, in the Pico-Union area.
Jurors also found true the special circumstance allegations of murder during the commission of a robbery or attempted robbery involving both victims and multiple murders, along with allegations that Thomas personally and intentionally discharged a shotgun.
Thomas also was convicted of five counts of robbery, one involving the attack on Ben-Meir, and three counts of attempted robbery — one involving the attack on Aragon — and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon. Jurors deadlocked on a sixth robbery charge that was dismissed at the sentencing hearing. The crimes occurred between April 29, 2011, and May 10, 2011.
The same jury that convicted Thomas deadlocked March 25 on whether to recommend a death sentence or life in prison. Prosecutors announced in April that they were not seeking to retry Thomas’ penalty phase, and he was sentenced in June to two consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole.
“You did this for a person you had known for approximately three to four weeks,” Marcus told Young. “You need to reflect on what you did in this case and try to change yourself.”
Young — who was initially charged with murder — testified against Thomas in exchange for the 25-year prison term. The judge said he was “offended” by a letter she wrote to the prosecution unsuccessfully seeking a shorter sentence.
Along with two counts of voluntary manslaughter, Young pleaded guilty to three counts each of robbery and attempted robbery.
Co-defendant Richard Edward Anderson Jr. — who was not charged in connection with the killings — pleaded guilty to three counts of robbery and two counts of attempted robbery. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
“You did some really stupid things here,” the judge told the 38-year- old Anderson.
–City News Service