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Black Mafia gang member sentenced to life for murder
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More from Breaking NewsThe alleged shot-caller of the Oxnard-based Black Mafia criminal street gang was sentenced today to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Last month, it took a jury less than three hours to find John "Rocky" Lewis guilty of first-degree murder for his role in the 2006 death of 29-year-old Fred Williams of Oxnard.
Lewis, 33, a former Oxnard resident, was convicted of hiring fellow gang member Bakari Pitts to kill Williams, who also was a Black Mafia member.
Pitts testified that Lewis paid him $5,000 and some marijuana for killing Williams. He was shot execution-style in the Somis area on May 12, 2006.
Before being sentenced today, Lewis, who was dressed in blue and orange jail garb, addressed the court. He expressed his "condolences" to the victim's family members who were in the courtroom.
He told the judge that he was innocent and accused the district attorney of "bamboozling" the jury to get him convicted.
"They know I had nothing to do with this," Lewis told the court. He said he isn't an "angel" but also isn't the "devil" as prosecutors tried to portray him during his trial, he said.
Ventura County Superior Court Judge James Cloninger told Lewis that there was a "great deal of credible evidence" given to jurors to convict him.
"They didn't do this because they were bamboozled," the judge said. "You were fairly tried and fairly convicted, sir."
The judge denied a motion by Lewis' lawyer, Steven Powell, for a new trial and ordered Lewis to pay more than $10,000 as restitution.
Powell said in an interview that the verdicts will be appealed. The jury found true all of the special circumstances and allegations against Lewis — that he was a principal participant in an offense committed with a firearm, that the murder was for financial gain, and that it was done to benefit a street gang, the Black Mafia.
Williams' family members who were in the courtroom but made no victim-impact statements.
Outside the courtroom, Williams' mother, Jo Helen Williams, said: "This guy had my son cold-bloodedly murdered for no good reasons. Today is one of the best days I've had since this happened two years ago."
She expressed gratitude to prosecutor Cheryl Temple along with the detectives from the Ventura County Sheriff's Department.
Williams dismissed Lewis' courtroom comments, saying she didn't give them any weight.
Lewis testified during his trial and denied any involvement in Williams' shooting.
During the sentencing today, Temple said Lewis acted in a "cowardly" way and got someone else to pull the trigger.
She said Lewis proved to be "an incredibly untruthful witness" on the stand during his trial.
Posted by oxnard40 on June 2, 2008 at 11:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Sometimes I wish we had an eye for an eye judicial system. A prison cell is not going to stop Rocky from running the BMG or hurting innocent people.
Posted by Fred on June 2, 2008 at 12:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Jail in our country is way too comforting. I think it should be reengineered with kennels, no contact with others, slop food dropped on a tray, and only educational material to read. It is far too pleasant now and just a means for criminals to get to know one another and make future business contacts.
Posted by oxnard40 on June 2, 2008 at 12:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Rocky is 33 years old. He will probably live another 30 to 40 years on the tax payers dime.
Posted by Relvd98 on June 2, 2008 at 1:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Well, let me ask this: What is the max I may borrow? I mean, I will need a couple of gran for now. I will let you know when I can pay you back, because I don't want you to come after me with a shotgun.
Posted by Relvd98 on June 2, 2008 at 2:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Awesome. I was concerned you might ask the Mata sisters to take care of business for you.
Posted by 1pmachado1 on June 2, 2008 at 3:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Well the victim wasn't exactly an angel. If I remember correctly he was also a gang banger, and drug dealer. So Ricky got rid of one scumbag and the jury system got rid of another one.
Posted by Relvd98 on June 2, 2008 at 4:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Carwash soon?! No, no, no mmshoot! We had the carwash this past weekend, you should've of been there. Pog and I had a blast with all those that volunteered (is voluntered spelled correctly?)to help out and those who pitched in.
Posted by missing805 on June 2, 2008 at 5:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Why can we handle criminals the mexican way? guilty until proven innocent. And it took 2 years for him to be found guilty. Now he will just take the Black mafia into Jail and expand his Empire
Posted by dgandy86 on June 23, 2008 at 1:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
First of all, my condolences go out to anyone who has a loved one who they've lost in death or incarceration. This is an upsetting situation to any party involved. Some see it as justice served but whether a life was lost or a man has to face major time in prison each person is linked to at least one other person who has suffered as a result. You can look at Rocky however you want but only God, Rocky, and the involved parties know what really happened. Everyone makes mistakes and everyone has made a life or death decision for them or someone else. Whether you decide to get an abortion or you take a chance and drive home drunk since your house is "right around the corner". Plain and simple, how can we judge any of these people without looking at ourselves? Some of these alleged actions could have been a reaction to something deeper than we know. It's not like all of the involved parties (even the deceased) were happy-go-lucky 9 to 5ers trying to make a decent living. Not saying that anyone deserves to die by another man's hand but sometimes the way we live catches up to us if we don't change our ways. And sometimes we have to take a loss as a wake up call.
As far as Rocky's past... what would you do if a man was mistreating your mother and you found her dead after you knew they had a heated argument? Let's be real. I would steal, kill, fight, and hunt someone down for MY mother, but hey, some of us would rather kill for simpler things like $5000 or a bag of weed.
I believe an appeal is in order being that the only evidence was hear say other than the alleged recordings that were never played. Oh yea, and the fact that everyone played a snitch in the case BUT Rocky. If anyone out there is listening, if you are a so called "gang banger" and you feel you are hard enough to take someone's life but not hard enough to keep your mouth shut get out of the game. Also, Oxnard come on now... if every so called gang banger knew anything substantial they would know that Oxnard is one of the corniest places to even represent. We are the home of the strawberry festival for crying out loud. If you want to see a real gang take your so called gangster behind to Mississippi where people get killed in broad daylight for giving an inappropriate look and then tell me what set you claim. If you ever want to be more than what you are you have to broaden your horizons and go beyond the 4 block radius that is Oxnard. If a real thug even read these articles he would probably bust out laughing.
Anyway, after reading for months and months all of the comments put out there I just thought it was my turn to speak my mind. To all of my friends and family in the 805 I love you!!!
Posted by speakmymind11 on December 19, 2008 at 10:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
i would like to respond to dgandy86, i agree with your first paragraph but definitly not the rest. you said you believe there should be an appeal because it was all hear say and snitching...and we're you actually there in the courtroom everyday during this trial??! obviously not, because if you were there you would know it was WAY more than hear say, plus there were alot of witness's who testified in this trial, and beside that what more evidence do you need than a person snitching?!
so because a another person actually spoke the TRUTH and was HONEST about the murder, big roc should be considered innocent or be allowed an appeal simply because he was snitched on?! thats crazy! it shouldn't even be referred to as snitching, its called telling the truth! and if your child was murdered or your mom or somebody who you trully loved was killed, i garantee you all would wish somebody actually would come forward and "snitch" at least you can rest at nite knowing the real reason or story behind your loved one being murdered.
honesty is all that should matter. bakari told the truth about who was behind the murder because why would anyone want to spend there life in jail for someone else's plot? while the man who really wanted fred dead is out living life like nothing even happened! everyone is so quick to take big rock's side but he planned it all up, and made sure it happened. And bakari pulled the trigger so the only people we should feel sorry for are the loved ones of the familys who lost someone!
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