Teen Sentenced in Teacher’s Slaying
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One of two teens convicted of killing a retired teacher during a robbery that netted $20 was sentenced to 35 years to life in prison.
Superior Court Judge Jack W. Morgan on Friday showed leniency in sentencing Ollie Wayne Hawkins Jr., 17, who could have received life in prison without possibility of parole. Hawkins could one day be eligible for parole.
Hawkins and a friend, 18-year-old Joe Patrick Gaines, were convicted of fatally shooting Kathryn Dawson in her Compton home in July 2001.
The 68-year-old woman, a longtime friend of Gaines’ family, had been a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District for 40 years.
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