gang boss sentenced to death

 

LOS ANGELES COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
MEDIA RELATIONS DIVISION

STEVE COOLEY District Attorney JOSEPH SCOTT Director
JOHN K. SPILLANE Chief Deputy District Attorney SANDI GIBBONS P.I.O.
JANE ROBISON News Secretary
SHIARA M. DÁVILA Asst. P.I.O.

18-1112 Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center
210 West Temple Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 974-3525

Jan. 9, 2009

Northeast street gang boss formally sentenced to death for murders of three

LOS ANGELES – Timothy Joseph McGhee, the boss of the Toonerville street gang, was formally sentenced to death today by a judge who called the defendant "a committed killer; an obvious danger to society."

McGhee, who has been in custody since his February 2003 arrest in Bullhead City, Ariz., was impassive as Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry imposed the death penalty recommended by a jury on Aug. 27. Prior to imposing sentence, the judge denied defense motions for a new trial and a modified jury verdict.

Besides the death penalty, McGhee also was sentenced to multiple, consecutive life sentences for four counts of attempted murder. Two of the attempted murder victims are Los Angeles police officers who were ambushed in July 2000.

Deputy District Attorney Hoon Chun with the Major Crimes Division said prior to sentencing that he had prosecuted a lot of gang-related murders and "there's always a reason" for the killings. But McGhee killed for "no reason," said Chun. "The defendant has shown us…that he is someone who enjoys killing."

On Oct. 25, 2007, a jury convicted McGhee of three counts of first-degree murder, finding true the special circumstances of gang murder on two of the killings and the special circumstance of multiple murders. The jury also convicted McGhee of the four attempted murder counts and found him not guilty of two others.

The same jury deadlocked on a penalty verdict. The penalty phase was retried before another jury this year.

McGhee, 35, was convicted of the murders of Margie Mendoza in November 2001; Ronnie Martin, who was shot 28 times, in 1997; and Ryan Gonzalez in June 2000.

Mendoza was the passenger in a car driven by a member of another area gang that was fired upon. The driver of the car survived the shooting. Martin and Gonzalez were identified as gang members.

Authorities said the murders and attempted murders occurred during a four-year drive by McGhee to maintain control of narcotics distribution in the Atwater Village area of northeast Los Angeles. Authorities said he led about 200 gang members who claimed an area around Los Feliz Boulevard between San Fernando Road and the Los Angeles River.

McGhee fled Los Angeles during the investigations into the murders. He was placed on the U.S. Marshals Service Most-Wanted list in late 2002 after a Sept. 25, 2002, warrant was issued for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

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