5 Guilty of Kidnapping and Murder of Baby

Five men were convicted Monday of kidnapping, murder and robbery for a crime that ended when their getaway car crashed into a tree in Lancaster, killing a 7-month-old baby they had taken from a man they tried to rob.

Marcel Cloud, 30, Kenyon Pitts, 24, Herman St. Amie, 30, Ronald Cains, 24, and Cephus Sudduth, 25, face life in prison without possibility of parole. They are scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 18, court officials said.

“This was a travesty. Everybody who has dealt with this case, from the family of the baby to the sheriff’s deputies, has been deeply and emotionally affected by it,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Eleanor Hunter, the prosecutor.

“They had absolutely no regard for this child’s life.”

A sixth suspect, Wadrick Bouligny, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter and testified for the prosecution, Hunter said.

The six, who authorities described as gang members from Willowbrook, abducted and beat Robert Davis on Feb. 21, 1995, trying to get money from him.

They abducted his infant daughter, Jainah Alexis Spencer, at gunpoint from her mother’s Inglewood apartment as a hostage. Davis then suggested he take them to his mother’s house in Lancaster, more than 100 miles to the north, where they might be able to get money.

More than once, the men threatened to kill the baby if they were not given money, Hunter said.

Davis and the kidnappers arrived at the Lancaster house around midnight. Davis’ sister, who lived there with her mother, slipped away to call sheriff’s deputies, but when the deputies arrived, they were spotted by the abductors, four of whom escaped in a car with the baby.

Hunter said Pitts, the driver, eluded deputies for about 11 miles, driving up to 110 mph on remote, unlighted streets with the car’s headlights off to avoid detection. The pursuit ended when the kidnappers’ car hit a ditch and spun wildly, smashing into a tree and catching fire.

Deputies found Jainah dead in the backseat.

“Through [Bouligny’s] testimony we learned that Jainah was awake during the whole pursuit, and she was crying. They [the kidnappers] had more than one opportunity to stop, to get the baby out of the car, and they did nothing,” said Hunter.

Pitts, Bouligny, St. Amie and Cloud were arrested at the crash scene. Sudduth and Cains, left behind when the getaway car sped off, escaped. Sudduth was eventually arrested in Savannah, Ga., in July 1995, and Cains was arrested in December in Memphis.