A former gang member was sentenced to 17 years in state prison Tuesday as part of a plea deal with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office that required him to testify about how he and several co-defendants conspired to carry out what became one of the worst mass shootings in Long Beach history.
As part of his agreement with prosecutors, Joshua Sam admitted to being a getaway driver in the plot that killed three people and wounded nine others in the backyard of a Halloween-themed birthday party in the Rose Park neighborhood on the night of Oct. 29, 2019.
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Sam pleaded no contest last year to reduced charges of three counts of voluntary manslaughter and three counts of attempted murder for his role, and at his sentencing hearing Tuesday, a judge commended him for complying with his “end of the bargain.”
She said, however, that though it was a big step toward redemption, and 17 years was a fair sentence, she hoped Sam always remembered the devastation he and the gang caused that night.
“The trauma and pain to the community will last longer than 17 years,” Long Beach Superior Court Judge Laura Laesecke said. “I hope you remain mindful of that.”
Sam’s five co-defendants, Jeremy Penh, David Long, Ryan Sim, Kaylin Thik, and Grant Johnson, were convicted in November of three counts of murder and nine counts of attempted murder. Laesecke, who said they had shown no remorse for their actions, handed down multiple life sentences to them last month.
Prosecutors said that Penh, Long, Sim, Thik, Johnson, and Sam believed they were targeting rival gang members, but there were no rival gang members at the party, according to prosecutors. Instead, the gunmen sprayed bullets into the backyard, killing three guests — 35-year-old Melvin Williams II, 28-year-old Ricardo Torres, and 25-year-old Maurice Poe Jr.
Nicole Vasquez, a survivor of the shooting, addressed Sam on Tuesday, saying she forgave him for his “complicity.”
“We all make mistakes,” said Vasquez, whose cousin, Poe, died in the shooting. “The guilt you have to carry on your back is far worse than the sentence you will receive.”
When Sam testified at trial last year, he gave one of the most detailed accounts of what led up to the shooting.
Sam said he had stolen a car from a rival gang member the day of the shooting, and when he found out who he’d stolen the car from, he made plans to sell it back to the rival gang member at a Food4Less in North Long Beach and recruited Johnson to go with him.
Sam and Johnson were ready to go sell the car when they got a call from Penh telling them to meet up at a North Long Beach apartment where the gang frequently hung out.
Sam testified that Penh, a Tiny Rascals Gang “shot caller” who had felt slighted by the host of the party, convened the meeting at the apartment to plan the violence against what he said were rival gang members who planned to attend.
This was their chance to “shut it down” and “drop them all,” Penh said, according to Sam. In reality, authorities allege, the gunfire rained down on a party of mostly coworkers gathered for a birthday, none of whom had any connection to a gang.
As they planned, Sam said, Penh assigned everyone their role: Long, Thik and Sim were chosen to be the shooters because they were considered the younger members of the gang and this was a chance to “put in work” and “earn their stripes.”
According to Sam’s testimony, he and Johnson would serve as the getaway drivers, while two other gang members, Christopher Williams and Danny Sourn were lookouts in a third car on the other side of the alleyway.
Penh dropped off Long, Thik and Sim in the alleyway behind the house, while Sam, Johnson, Williams and Sourn waited nearby, Sam said.
Shortly after, Sam said, he heard a series of gunshots followed by the faint sound of sirens. He described the three shooters then running to the back seats of the car before he drove off.
Sam said that after the shooting, he slowly started distancing himself from the gang, though he would still sometimes visit one of their hangouts.
Police eventually connected the gang to the shooting and made arrests.
After being taken into custody, Sam said, he didn’t come forward about the crimes or make a statement to authorities on the advice of his lawyer, who wanted to help him work out the best possible deal.
While in custody, he was assigned to the general population with the rest of his co-defendants. But after accepting a meeting with the DA’s office, Sam said, someone tried to have him killed, so he was moved to protective custody. Since then, he’s no longer considered himself part of the Tiny Rascals Gang, he said.
During their cross-examination of Sam, defense attorneys attempted to cast doubt on his testimony and questioned his credibility due to his admitted drug and alcohol consumption on the day of the shooting.
They also brought up his criminal record, and questioned his motivation to come forward to the DA’s office to make a deal years after the shooting. They pointed out that without leniency from prosecutors, he faced life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.
Sam admitted that not wanting to spend the rest of his life in prison was a motivating factor in him being “willing to tell the truth.”
But another motivator was that one of the victims, Poe, is the son of a childhood friend and that he felt responsible for his death, even if he was only serving as a getaway driver that night, he added.
Sim later attempted to contradict Sam’s version of events and prosecutors’ core contention when, in a twist, he suddenly decided to testify and explained how he alone carried out the mass shooting. He said it was a chance to catch what he believed to be rival gang members “slipping” after being “jumped” by them in the same area five years earlier.
The testimony did not sway jurors, who deliberated for roughly five hours over two days before finding Penh, Long, Sim, Thik, and Johnson guilty of three counts of first-degree murder and nine counts of attempted murder.
Laesecke ordered Sam and the rest of his co-defendants to pay more than $100,000 in restitution to the victims and their families.