The family of a Kiowa man killed on the streets of Long Beach, California, is shocked by a plea bargain reached for one of the shooting suspects.
Shane Zotigh, 19, was shot to death in August 2002. But alleged attackers, believed to be gang members, have escaped punishment for the crime.
On Monday, one of the suspects Toniro Jamel Williams, pleaded guilty for crimes related to an assault on Zotigh's friend, Julio Ortiz, who survived the attack. Williams will serve five years in state prison.
The other suspect, Marlon Taylor, was acquitted of Zotigh's murder but convicted of assaulting Ortiz last year. "It just seems like everything has been a failure, the whole system has failed," Zotigh's uncle, Ben Wolf, told The Long Beach Press-Telegram.
Zotigh was a champion pow-wow dancer.
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Family shocked by sentence
(The Long Beach Press-Telegram 6/15)
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Kiowa family shocked at plea bargain for son's death
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
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