Man convicted of murder of pregnant woman in Long Beach

LONG BEACH (CNS) – A Long Beach man was sentenced Friday to 50 years to life in prison for the shooting death of a woman who was newly pregnant with a baby believed to be his child.

Tremaine Lewis, now 33, was convicted May 15 of first-degree murder for the killing of Alicia Faith Todd, 21, in Long Beach in the early morning hours of June 24, 2015.

Jurors also found true the allegation that Lewis personally discharged a firearm during the commission of the crime.

Superior Court Judge Richard M. Goul said he “completely agreed with the jury's decision.”

The judge cited what he called “the absence of any human emotion, remorse or feeling” on Lewis's part throughout the court proceedings, noting that he saw the defendant smile, including when photos of the crime scene were shown and at the time of the jury's verdict. .

“The court has never seen this type of behavior before,” Goul said.

The judge noted that “nothing can bring Alicia back,” but said he hoped “the defendant would hear the voices” of the victim's family members as they spoke in Long's courtroom Beach.

The victim's great-uncle, Mack A. Jenkins, called Lewis a “violent, sociopathic predator” and told the judge he “tried to warn Alicia about men like the one who finally took her away.” life”.

“…But unfortunately, her murderer found her, manipulated her and her feelings, and when she became a problem for him, he killed her,” her great-uncle said. “In a cold and premeditated manner, this individual lured Alicia out of her home in the middle of the night under the pretext of agreeing to talk to her about her pregnancy, and shot her three times in the head, leaving her in the alley as trash.”

He noted that the aspiring social worker was posthumously awarded an associate's degree from Long Beach City College through her older sister's efforts on her behalf.

Jenkins called for the “maximum sentence” for Lewis, who he said met the victim while she was sitting at a bus stop.

The victim's cousin, Mack E. Jenkins, said he considered the victim “the little sister I always wanted.”

“…We're not here for closure. We're here for justice,” said Jenkins, chief of the criminal division of the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles.

The victim's older sister, Patricia Franklin, told the judge: “On June 24, 2015, someone decided to play God and murder my little sister. »

In his closing argument last month, Assistant Prosecutor Marlon Duke Powers told jurors that the victim had gone to Planned Parenthood a day earlier for tests to confirm his suspicions that she was pregnant, and that “the “The accused's entire world had changed in the preceding 48 hours.” until Alicia died.”

“This complication in Tremaine Lewis’ life was resolved in three bullets,” Powers told the jury.

The woman, who lived in Signal Hill, was found dead in an alley between Orange and Lemon avenues, north of 21st Street, according to Long Beach police.

Police said shortly after the killing that the person who called 911 to report seeing the victim's body in the alley heard gunshots about an hour earlier.

The victim was holding a pair of keys in her hand, indicating she intended to return home, but her cellphone was never found, the prosecutor told jurors.

DNA testing of the embryonic material recovered from the victim showed that it contained DNA that matched the defendant's genetic profile and is found in 1 in 18 million people, according to the deputy prosecutor, who declared the victim to be “nothing more than a side chick.” to Lewis and that the pregnancy complicated his relationship with his girlfriend.

Defense attorney Stephen R. Kahn acknowledged that what happened was “indeed a tragedy” but said “no direct evidence places the defendant there” in the alley at the time. of Todd's murder.

“There's no pressure on him to eliminate her…to put her aside,” the defense attorney said, adding that Lewis' girlfriend knew about his relationship with the victim.

He noted that Todd was about four to five weeks pregnant and had discovered her pregnancy a day or two before she was killed, but he questioned whether it was “that upsetting” that she was pregnant .

“Why would he kill her because she was pregnant?” Kahn asked the jurors. “This case makes no sense. (…) There is no reason to kill this young woman.”

The defense attorney said last month that he expected Lewis to appeal his conviction.

The defendant remains behind bars since his arrest by Long Beach police in February 2016.