Suspect Pleads Not Guilty To Murder Of Mentally Disabled Man For His Red Shoes
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A 24-year-old man pleaded not guilty Monday to the gang-related murder of a 19-year-old mentally disabled man gunned down for his red Converse tennis shoes.
Kevin Deon Johnson and his co-defendant, Dwight Kevin Smith, 30, are both scheduled to return to court Monday to get a preliminary hearing date.
Smith pleaded not guilty June 22 to a murder charge.
Kanasho Johns, 27, alleged to have been the shooter, is expected to be extradited from Texas to Los Angeles on Wednesday, Deputy District Attorney Bobby Zoumberakis said.
Johns' case is expected to be consolidated with his two co-defendants, who are both being held in excess of $2 million bail.
According to the felony complaint, Johnson was convicted of robbery as a juvenile in 2006.
The three are charged in the death of Tavin Price, who was shot May 29 at a South Los Angeles car wash.
On the day he was killed, Price, called "Tevin" by some relatives and friends, was at the car wash with his mother and a friend when he went into a nearby smoke shop. LAPD investigators said one of the suspects asked Price about his gang affiliation and red shoes.
Police said Price ignored the question about the shoes and was walking back toward the family's car when another suspect ran across the street and shot him four times.
An alleged accessory to the crime, Antheyst Jarrett, 27, was ordered on June 18 to stand trial. She is charged with one count each of dissuading a witness from testifying and being an accessory after the fact.
Prosecutors say Jarrett tried to "maliciously prevent and dissuade" Jennifer Rivers, the victim's mother, "from attending and giving testimony at a trial proceeding."
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