The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal ordered the case against Derrick Williams to be sent back to the trial court so that he may either be re-sentenced for second-degree murder or for the prosecution to opt to retry him for first-degree murder for the Dec. 25, 2010, killing of 25-year-old Kashmier James.
A gang member who pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter for his role in the 2010 Christmas night killing of a woman in front of her 3-year-old daughter in South Los Angeles was sentenced last Thursday to 29 years in state prison. Ezekiel Simon — who was 16 at the time of the killing of Kashmier James but was charged as an adult — also pleaded no contest to the attempted murder of a man who was not struck by the gunfire. The defendant also admitted gang and gun allegations. In sentencing Simon, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy