By Mary O’KEEFE

James Wesley Trotter, aka Man-Man, a 22-year-old Long Beach man, was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his role in the murder of a 67-year-old Montrose woman a year ago, Los Angeles Country District Attorney’s Office announced. On Aug. 15, Trotter was found guilty on one count each of murder with special circumstance allegation of murder during the commission of a robbery, second-degree robbery and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

There were sentences handed down earlier for two other suspects. Devon T. White, 21, of Lynwood was also found guilty of the same charges. He was sentenced on Aug. 19 to life in prison without the possibility of parole. A third co-defendant, Tonaye Eunice James, 23, of Las Vegas, pled no contest on July 31 to one count of second-degree robbery. She was sentenced on Sept. 5 to 12 years in state prison.

The murder on Aug. 8 shocked residents in the quiet neighborhood when the suspects followed Hye Soon Oh from her business in Lynwood to her apartment complex in the 2900 block of Montrose Avenue. The suspects approached the victim, robbed and fatally shot her.

Glendale police worked with detectives from the U.S. Marshal’s Regional Task Force in their investigation and were able to track down White and the other suspects.

“Officers were able to recover some of the stolen evidence and got DNA off the [items],” said Sgt. Dan Suttles of the GPD.

The convictions and sentences give the family a sense of closure, Suttles said.

“I think that when you are a detective and put your efforts into a case that has so much meaning, there was a life that was lost, when you are able to get a conviction of three suspects it gives a sense of closure,” he said, “although there is a hole in the life of loved ones that can never be filled.”

  Mary Okeefe