Killer of 2 Women Given Life in Prison

In his last chance to speak before receiving two life terms in prison, a convicted double murderer raised his voice Tuesday, not to ask the judge for mercy, but to proclaim his innocence.

“I was tried and convicted of a crime I didn’t commit,” said Etienne Moore, 25, looking back at the victims’ relatives, some of whom heckled him. “The bottom line is I didn’t kill Laurie Myles and I didn’t kill Talin Tarkhanian.

“I promise you,” Moore added, addressing his own family, “I’ll never stop fighting until my innocence is proven and I’m exonerated.”

Convicted of the hired killing of one woman and the robbery murder of another as she picked up her teenage daughter from Bible study, Moore listened Tuesday as victims’ relatives revealed their hatred for him and disappointment that he would not be executed.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge J.D. Smith then sentenced Moore to two life terms without the possibility of parole, plus 17 years in prison, ending a four-year court battle.

Moore was convicted of executing Tarkhanian, 20, of Reseda in 1993 at the request of her former boyfriend, co-defendant Shashonee Solomon, 35, to earn his stripes in a gang. Solomon, who had Tarkhanian killed because she had broken off their relationship, was also convicted of the murder, for which he was sentenced to 38 years to life in prison.

Moore, a Canoga Park resident and former Faith Baptist High School basketball star, was one of a number of men involved in a ring of follow-home armed robbers in the San Fernando Valley in 1993. During a four-month trial, Deputy Dist. Atty. Janice Maurizi and Edwin Greene outlined dozens of crimes Moore and a co-defendant, LaCedrick Johnson, 24, also of Canoga Park, committed.

Myles, 37, of North Hills, panicked during a September 1993 Northridge robbery and was fatally shot as her terrified 9-year-old son watched. Johnson, who drove the getaway car, was sentenced earlier to life in prison without parole.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Moore in each of the slayings, but jurors, who had convicted him of the crimes in June, could not agree on whether he deserved to be executed or spend the rest of his life in prison.

Prosecutors chose not to pursue another penalty phase for Moore, in large part because the Tarkhanian family said they did not want to go through another trial.

In court Tuesday, the victim’s father called Moore “a coward that killed defenseless people” and said he was happy the defendant faces a lifetime in prison.

“In prison you’re going to meet your match,” Razmik Tarkhanian said, “not the defenseless women that you killed.”

But the long-awaited day of sentencing was a letdown for Myles’ relatives. They said they were relieved that after six years the case had come to a close, but were crushed Moore will not pay the ultimate penalty for his crimes.

“Etienne Moore deserves death, but instead he gets life,” said Michelle Martin, Myles’ daughter. “I hope that prison life lives up to its reputation because you deserve every ounce of pain that life could bring.”

Myles’ husband did not attend the hearing, saying through a relative that he didn’t want to “glamorize this killer any more than he already has been.”

Longest to speak was Larry Hicks, Myles’ brother who had been the calm, eloquent voice of the family since shortly after Myles’ death. He seethed as he addressed the court Tuesday, seemingly letting out years of frustration.

“I’ve had the opportunity so many times to break your scrawny little neck,” he said, adding that he decided to leave Moore’s fate in God’s hands. “In my mind, I’ve executed you over a thousand times.

“Personally, I won’t have complete closure or peace until you are extracted from the prison system in a body bag,” Hicks said. “One thing I pray for every night is that your death comes with Godspeed and at the hands of another, so you know what it feels like.”

Myles’ son, who brought jurors to tears during the trial when he described his fruitless efforts to save his dying mother by trying to drive the car away and giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, provided the most dramatic moment of Tuesday’s hearing. After Moore was sentenced, Joshua Myles, now 15, stood up.

“I just want you to look at me and tell me if you remember that day you said: ‘Should I shoot the kid?’ Do you remember?”

“No,” the defendant replied softly, shaking his head. “I don’t remember.”