A Sacramento Superior Court jury today convicted Richard Tyrell Carter of second-degree murder in the Oct. 11, 2011, shooting death of Kevin Kent Burks in the city's south area.
Carter, now 18, is facing an 80-year to life prison term at his scheduled March 7 sentencing in front of Judge Timothy M. Frawley. Along with 15 years to life for the second-degree murder conviction, jurors also found that Carter used a handgun -- never recovered -- which will add a 25-year to life term under the state's "10-20-Life" law. That 40-year to life sentence would then be doubled under the "three-strikes" law because Carter has a prior robbery conviction.
According to Deputy District Attorney Eric Kindall's trial brief, Carter had been playing dice in the street in front of a house on Decathlon Circle, near Mack Road and Franklin Boulevard. Burks, 51, drove his truck up to the house at 11:20 p.m. and was shot and killed when he stepped into the street.
Kindall said in the brief that Carter was "antsy" that a drive-by shooting was about to occur. The evidence at trial showed that Burks was unarmed. The prosecutor's brief said Burks drove into the neighborhood to visit with a friend or possibly to buy drugs. Investigators found four grams of methamphetamine, an ounce of marijuana, a scale, $7,500 cash and two marijuana plants at the house on Decathlon Circle.
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