SAN DIEGO — It’s been 8½ years since two innocent women were gunned down in a hail of bullets outside a Lincoln Park liquor store on New Year’s Day. They had stopped to buy a fireplace log after attending a late-night church service.
When the man identified as their killer was sentenced Thursday to multiple terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole, the son of one of the women expressed relief.
“I just thank God,” Antrone Waites said during a San Diego Superior Court hearing. “I don’t have no more anger toward what happened. I’m just ready to put this to rest so I can get some rest.”
Waites said he’s had trouble sleeping since Jan. 1, 2003, the day his mother — Carol Waites, 45, and her friend, Sharen Burton, 32 — were fatally shot. The two women stopped at Dr. J’s Liquor shortly after 1 a.m. and got caught in a gang war.
After a week of deliberations, a jury convicted James Carter, 37, in June of two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder. A special-circumstance allegation of multiple murders made him eligible for life without parole.
At times during the sentencing hearing, Carter smiled as he spoke with his lawyer, Brad Patton. But his family members seated in the courtroom remained solemn.
Michelle Carter, the defendant’s aunt, told Judge Kenneth So that her nephew was not the “beast” that was described in court and did not kill the two women.
“He is an innocent man and it shall be proven,” Carter said. “He’s not the one.”
James Carter, who prosecutors said was a documented gang member, was indicted by a grand jury in 2009. He was already in custody at the time on an unrelated robbery conviction.
Prosecutors argued during his trial that Carter fired shots outside the liquor store on Logan Avenue near Euclid Avenue in retaliation for the gang-related killing of his friend, Thomas Brown, 24 hours earlier.
At least three rival gang members were in the area when the shots rang out. Some of them ducked behind Burton’s car to avoid being hit.
“He perpetuated the cycle of murder between two of the largest gangs in San Diego County,” said Deputy District Attorney Robert Hickey during the sentencing hearing.
-new years is suppouse to be a time of fun and family.thiss man decided to go on a rampage and start killing people with no hessetetion. this lady got shot in a liquer store buying wood for her church fireplace.this lady got shot 2 times in the head for being in the wrong spot at the wrong time.thiss shows how crazy people are for money and drugs. he killed a inocent women for drugs.and for his gang.
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