Seven years after a photographer was murdered during a robbery at San Francisco’s Twin Peaks, two people convicted of his murder have been sentenced to life in prison.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins’ office announced Friday that 27-year-old Fantasy Decuir and 27-year-old Lamonte Mims received life sentences without the possibility of parole for the July 16, 2017: Murder of 71-year-old Ed French.
“They often say that justice delayed is justice denied, but not in this case,” Jenkins said in a statement. “I am grateful to the victim’s friends and family who have stood by us in our fight for justice over the years.”
San Francisco Police Department
Both Decuir and Mims were found guilty of first-degree murder under special circumstances in September. Decuir was also convicted of second-degree theft.
According to testimony presented at trial, French went to the popular tourist spot during the morning hours with his new camera, a Canon Mark III DSLR. While he was taking photos, Mims and Decuir approached French at gunpoint.
During a struggle in which Mims tried to pull French’s camera bag away, Decuir shot the victim in the heart and right lung. After the shooting, Mims pulled the camera bag and kicked the victim while he was on the ground.
Prosecutors said the couple tried to sell the stolen camera near 7th and Market streets an hour after the shooting.
French was a commercial location scout with close ties to the film community.
“If it’s someone you know, it really hits home,” Susannah Greason Robbins of the SF Film Commission told CBS News Bay Area shortly after French was killed.
Robbins described the victim as a witty, artistic soul.
Decuir and Mims were arrested on July 28, 2017, after robbing a pair of tourists at gunpoint of a camera and credit cards near Cathedral Hill, the district attorney’s office said.
“While nothing can truly heal the pain caused by this callous, senseless murder, we are relieved that Ms. Decuir and Mr. Mims will never be able to hurt anyone else in our community again,” said Assistant District Attorney Heather Trevisan. “I would like to thank Mr. French’s family for their support and patience throughout this case, and the jurors who carefully weighed all the evidence and reached a fair verdict.”
