Two gang members were sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the Christmas Day 2012 killing of a civilian Sheriff’s Department employee who was struck by stray gunfire from a gang shooting in Pasadena.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Curtis B. Rappe imposed the term on Larry Darnell Bishop Jr., 24, and Jerron Donald Harris, 29, who were convicted last April of first-degree murder for the shooting death of Victor McClinton.
The 49-year-old law enforcement technician and father of two — 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.
“There is a massive hole in my heart that will never be filled,” McClinton’s widow, Shelly, told the judge. “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.”
She called her husband the family’s “rock” and said he was the “type of person who believed in helping out anyone in need.”
Shelly McClinton cried as she heard a tape-recording of her husband’s voice from the time he was honored as KNX’s Hero of the Week for his work with youth sports, telling the judge moments later it was the first time she had heard his voice in nearly five years.
The victim’s widow testified in June 2015 that she originally thought the shots were fireworks, but then discovered her husband on the ground.
One of the man’s sisters, Selina McCline, told the judge her brother had made a choice to dedicate his life to others, and said the defendants’ actions took away an opportunity for other children in Pasadena to be mentored by him.
Pasadena police Chief Phillip Sanchez — who was in court for the sentencing — said outside court that it was a “tragic case.”
“Our prayers, of course, are with the McClinton family,” the police chief said.
Along with the murder charge, jurors found true the special circumstance allegation of murder during a drive-by shooting against both defendants.
The panel also found true 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.
Bishop and Harris were also convicted of the attempted murder of the intended target, who was wounded and ended up crashing his vehicle into a tree.
Harris was also convicted of two counts of shooting at an inhabited dwelling and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Bishop was acquitted of those charges.
The jury was the second to consider the case against Bishop and Harris.
Jurors deadlocked in their first trial in July 2015, in which Deputy District Attorney Amy Ashvanian called it a “gang-related murder” and said two houses were struck by the gunfire.
“We’re obviously disappointed in the verdict. We don’t feel justice was served,” defense attorneys Elena Saris and Richard Lasting said in a statement outside court after the two were convicted last April 29. “We were denied the opportunity to present relevant evidence in their defense and hope the appellate court rights the injustice.”
Pasadena police arrested Bishop three days after the shooting, and Harris was taken into custody early the next month.
— City News Service