Deputies Thwart Courtroom Attack

Tensions exploded in a Compton courtroom Tuesday during a tumultuous day in which three young men were found guilty of murdering 17-year-old Corie Williams, an innocent high school student hit by bullets fired into an MTA bus in a gang feud.

Just moments after the jury announced its verdict, as family members wailed in disapproval and one defendant was taken away, defendant Randall Amado sprang from his chair and vaulted toward the prosecutor.

Four burly sheriff’s deputies wrestled Amado, 18, to the floor of the courtroom before he could get his hands on the prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Grace, while another deputy pulled Grace from the melee.

Although it all happened in a matter of seconds, Grace said he had a flash of recognition that the attack was coming because Amado had locked eyes with him as the guilty verdicts were read.

“I knew he was coming for me because we had had eye contact,” Grace said. “A lot of tension builds up when you have a case like this.”

Later, outside the courthouse, juror Ray Phillips said the melee “scared me to death. . . . I did two years in Vietnam and still wasn’t afraid like this.”

Nearly two years ago, when Corie was killed, there were fears that her death would be overlooked because so much publicity was given to still another killing--the murder of Ennis Cosby, son of comic Bill Cosby, who was shot down the same day.

On the day her life would end, Corie took her usual route home from Centennial High School on the MTA’s Route 53 bus. Unknown to her, local Crips gang members had planned an ambush for rival Blood gang members riding the bus near Avalon Boulevard and Imperial Highway in South-Central Los Angeles. One gang member thrust a semiautomatic .40-caliber pistol through the window and opened fire, striking Corie in the neck.

When Bill Cosby learned of Corie’s death, he called the young woman’s mother to express his condolences. That gave the tragedy nationwide attention.

Corie, a senior at Centennial High, was described by friends and teachers as a bright and popular youth who had her sights on college.

On Tuesday, Grace applauded the verdict, noting that 20 witnesses were courageous enough to come forward and testify against the defendants, two of whom were members of the Eleven-8-Crips.

“Maybe we are seeing the days of gang intimidation coming to an end now,” the prosecutor said.

The courtroom chaos began moments after the verdicts against one of the defendants, Wilbert Pugh, 21, were read.

“He’s not guilty! He’s not guilty!” screamed Pugh’s mother, Michelle Compton, 41, who began flailing at a woman sitting next to her.

Deputies dragged Compton and another relative of Pugh’s from the courtroom.

Pugh was handcuffed and being led from the courtroom when he began shouting obscenities.

As spectators and courtroom officials were distracted by Pugh and his family members, Amado made his dash for the prosecutor.

After the melee, Superior Court Judge Victoria M. Chavez quickly called a recess.

Fearing trouble, 11 deputies had lined the courtroom before the verdicts were announced. The jury had reached its decisions on Amado and Pugh late Monday, but Chavez delayed announcing them until Tuesday morning. As soon as the trouble began, an assistance call went out and soon there were 22 deputies in the courtroom to restore order.

Then, with Amado and Pugh locked up and angry family members either removed from the courtroom or quieted down, Chavez called the jury back to complete the reading of the verdicts.

The verdicts were guilty on four counts of murder and other charges for Amado and Pugh. Later in the day, similar verdicts were handed down by a separate jury against a third defendant, Robert “Baby Kiko” Johnson, who jurors in a second trial decided was the gunman.

Pugh and Johnson were identified as members of a Crips gang that was involved in a deadly feud with members of a rival Bloods gang.

One count against the three men was for Corie’s murder.

A second count was for the attempted murder of Tyrone Lewis, a bus passenger who police said was the target of the shooting because he was wearing a red shirt similar in coloring to those worn by the Bloods gang.

A third count was for the assault on Tammi Freeman, Corie’s 18-year-old seatmate, who was wounded in the shoulder.

The fourth count involved the charge of shooting at an occupied bus.

After the turbulent events in Chavez’s courtroom, Grace and others said they had never seen anything like the spontaneous explosion of anger that followed the reading of the verdicts.

“I recognize that the disturbance was very distressing for you. I apologize for that,” Chavez told jurors before dismissing them.

Despite the disruption, no arrests were made and no injuries were reported.

The judge had barred cameras from the courtroom while the first jury delivered its verdicts on Pugh and Amado, but did allow cameras for the second jury’s announcement on Johnson hours later. Grace told reporters he would push for the maximum sentence--”a minimum of 50 years to life in state prison.” The men will be sentenced Dec. 17.

Once the verdicts were handed down, tears were shed by family members of both the victim and the defendants.

“My son is innocent, my son is not a gangbanger,” said Amado’s mother, Kim.

Grace said there was no documented evidence linking Amado to a gang, but that witnesses to the shooting testified that he was present with Johnson and Pugh, and one neighbor told jurors that Amado was carrying a gun.

Corie’s mother, Loretta Thomas-Davis, who watched the chaotic sequence from a seat in the courtroom, said: “I was sad for their mothers, that their sons are going to be in jail for such a long time,” Thomas-Davis said.

Asked whether she thought justice was served by the guilty verdicts, Thomas-Davis said no.

“No matter what is done to them, it can’t bring my daughter back,” she said.

In her honor, Thomas-Davis has helped set up a scholarship fund to aid financially strapped students.

When Amado vaulted the table, Thomas-Davis said she was tempted to approach the man who had just been found guilty of her daughter’s murder.

“He’s still alive. He is still here. He still has his health. But my child is not here,” Thomas-Davis said.