An ex-con who was found guilty of murdering a security guard outside a private student housing complex near USC was sentenced Thursday to 50 years to life in state prison.
Alexander Crawford, now 34, apologized to the victim’s family in the downtown Los Angeles courtroom, while noting that no apology “could ever rectify what has taken place.”
He said that he does “take accountability” for his actions, but maintained that he is “not really a bad person.”
“I’m going to take this life experience and use it to become a better person,” he told Jave Garanganao’s family.
Authorities said the security guard had asked Crawford earlier to leave the Lorenzo apartment complex in the 300 block of West Adams Boulevard, about a half-mile from the main USC campus, on Dec. 27, 2022.
During the sentencing hearing, nearly a dozen people spoke on behalf of the victim, who was described as a devoted father to his teenage daughter
Nearly a dozen people spoke on behalf of the victim, with several of his family members calling on Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta to impose the maximum 50-year-to-life sentence.
“Jave will never have a second chance. Neither should the defendant,” the victim’s uncle, Ronald DeGuzman, told the judge, saying that the defendant’s actions have proven that he is a “danger to society.”
One of the victim’s sisters, Ferregrace Preece, said one of the most painful things she has struggled with is imagining what her brother went through.
“No one deserves to die like that, especially Jave,” she told the judge.
Another of his sisters, Maureen Garanganao, urged the maximum term for “the person who brought undeniable grief (and) robbed family members and friends of a natural life with J.R.”
The victim’s daughter — who is now 16 years old — told the judge that she was 13 when she found out that her father had been murdered shortly after Christmas.
“He did not deserve this. My family did not deserve this,” the teenager said.
She said she was “not bitter,” with the judge subsequently telling her that “it takes a large heart to say something like that.”
During closing arguments in the trial, Deputy District Attorney Paul Przelomiec told jurors, “We know this was an intentional shooting merely by the fact that he fired 10 rounds … I’m telling you this was a premeditated killing that he carried out.”
Citing surveillance video of the shooting, the prosecutor argued that it appeared that Crawford was “angry and upset” and was the “only person acting aggressively” after being told to leave the property.
“Jave was no threat to him that night,” the deputy district attorney told jurors, noting that the guard was unarmed and that Crawford fled the scene after the shooting.
Defense attorney Evan Langinger countered, “What this case is is a tragedy. … What this case isn’t is murder. This is voluntary manslaughter.”
Crawford’s lawyer told the jury that his client had been waiting for a train and was trying to figure out his next move on a stormy night without any protective rain gear, adding that jurors had heard Crawford’s testimony that he thought the guard had pulled a gun on him when he saw him reach down and retrieve an object that wound up being a walkie talkie.
The defense attorney told jurors to hold his client “accountable” for the crime he committed, while arguing that it was the lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter.
“Understand that in that moment he actually believed he needed to use that force,” Langinger said of his client, who testified in his own defense.
Garanganao, 41, was pronounced dead at the scene from a gunshot wound to the chest, according to records from the county medical examiner’s office.
Los Angeles police said officers responded to a radio call of a gunshot victim down at around 12:30 a.m. the next day, and found the suspect — subsequently identified as Crawford — sleeping in a parking area near the lobby area of the building.
“Detectives were able to review video and determined that the person detained was the suspect in this incident,” police said in a statement announcing Crawford’s arrest. “Los Angeles Police Department Central Bureau Homicide detectives determined that Crawford was in possession of a handgun matching the handgun caliber used in the murder, was wearing clothing closely resembling the suspect’s clothing at the time of the incident and matched the suspect description in race, sex and physical description.”
He has remained behind bars since his arrest.
Crawford — who had a prior conviction from Oklahoma for burglary in 2010 — pleaded no contest to a separate count of possession of a firearm by a felon.
The judge denied Crawford’s bid last November for a new trial, finding that there was sufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict.