Q: About 15 years ago a young man was shot in the head and left for dead at a Sacramento intersection. I was wondering if they ever found out who did it. My son was given one of his kidneys. We will always be grateful to his family for the decision they made. - Anonymous, Sacramento.
![SSSENTENCING 3ME[1].JPG](http://blogs.sacbee.com/crime/SSSENTENCING%203ME%5B1%5D.JPG)
A: Insisting on his innocence, Raymond Muhammad Ward was sent to prison on July 21, 1995, for the rest of his life for killing a 19-year-old motorist at a busy Sacramento intersection for the victim's customized Oldsmobile with gold-colored wheels, The Bee reported. (Photo at left was taken of Ward at his trial.)
"I am sorry. All I want to say is that I didn't do it," Ward said in a Sacramento Superior Court where he was given life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Judge Richard H. Gilmour could have given Ward, 19, a sentence in which he would be eligible for parole in 12 years. But the judge told Ward "there was virtually nothing of redeeming value" in his short life, which was filled with more crime then the lives of other criminals twice his age.
"This is one of those cases where words fail to describe the callousness of the crime. To kill someone to get their wheels is beyond comprehension," Gilmour said.
Ward, who was prosecuted as an adult, was 17 on Oct. 14, 1993, when he walked up to a 1984 Oldsmobile at a red light at Fruitridge Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard shortly after 11 a.m. Arthur Gonzalez was waiting for the light to change on his way to work at an automotive shop.
During the trial earlier, Deputy District Attorney Pete Harned put on eight witnesses who identified Ward as the gunman who coolly walked up to Gonzalez, shot him in the head, then dumped his body in the busy intersection as he drove off.
Other evidence included statements from Ward's friends, who said he bragged the day of the shooting and joked at how television reporters had messed up details of the slaying, testimony indicated.
Ward's friends said he admitted that he killed Gonzalez to steal his deep green customized car with gold-colored rims and trim.
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