Man sentenced to life in slaying of LAPD detective's son

City News Service
Aug 31, 2010

One of two men convicted in the shooting death of the 18-year-old son of a Los Angeles Police Department Robbery-Homicide detective was sentenced today to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Bob S. Bowers Jr. also tacked on an additional 34-year-to-life prison term for Derrick Victor Starks, who was found guilty along with co-defendant Devin Stephen Davis in the May 11, 2007, slaying of Bryant Alexander Tennelle. Davis -- who was determined to be the shooter -- was 17 at the time of the crime, but was prosecuted as an adult. He was sentenced on April 16 to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus 25 years to life. Starks, 28, got the lengthier term because he had a prior robbery conviction.

Along with the murder charge, jurors found true a special circumstance allegation that the murder was carried out to further the activities of a criminal street gang. The victim, who was the son of LAPD Detective Wallace Tennelle, was walking with friends in the 1800 block of West 80th Street in South Los Angeles when he was shot in the head. He died at the scene.

Authorities said the defendants may have mistakenly perceived the victim to be a gang member. After a nearly daylong hearing in which Starks acted as his own attorney, the judge denied a new trial motion based on his claims that there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction; that there was newly discovered evidence; and that he had received ineffective assistance from his attorney during the trial.

"All the evidence used against me is inconclusive,'' Starks told the judge. Deputy District Attorney John Colello countered that "the evidence was overwhelming against Mr. Starks.'' The judge agreed, saying there was "more than sufficient evidence'' for the jury to reach the verdict it did. The victim's father was in court for much of the hearing, but did not address the judge. At Davis' sentencing in April, Wallace Tennelle noted that he had "seen my share of people killed for no reason at all'' during his years as a police detective.

He had urged the judge to sentence Davis as an adult rather than a juvenile, saying that Davis "felt man enough to pull the trigger'' and should be sentenced as a man. The victim's brother, Wallace Tennelle Jr., told the judge in April that he wanted to let Davis know that "the first detective at the scene of the crime was the father of the person murdered.''