2 sentenced for deadly rampage that killed 7, including 4 at Inglewood birthday party

City News Service

UPDATED: August 5, 2025 at 10:26 PM PDT

Two men were sentenced on Tuesday, Aug. 5, to five consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole for a gang-related shooting spree that included the killings of four people at a birthday party in Inglewood, along with the slayings of three other people in South Los Angeles and the Compton area within less than two months.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Eleanor J. Hunter said Cory Ervin, 32, and Kalil Santos, 24, had “earned every second” of their sentences.

Ervin and Santos were convicted of first-degree murder for a Jan. 23, 2022, shooting that killed Breahna Stines, 20; Jayden Griffin and Teron Whittiker Jr., both 21; and Marneysha Hamilton, 25, who were at a birthday party for Stines, along with the Dec. 14, 2021, shooting death of Antonio Dotson, 29, in the Compton area.

The murder charges included the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder while lying in wait.

The judge — who called the crimes “sickening” — tacked on a consecutive sentence of more than 200 years to life for Ervin and more than 100 years to life for Santos, who were also found guilty of two counts of second-degree murder for the Dec. 6, 2021, slayings of Jose Palma, 28, and Hector Cervantes, 25, at an RV park in the South Los Angeles area, along with other charges including attempted murder.

A third defendant, Kendale Taylor, 26, was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder, but acquitted of four other murder charges. He has already been sentenced to 30 years to life in state prison.

Four other defendants are due back in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Sept. 30.

Jurors found Semaj Brown, 27, guilty of first-degree murder, along with finding true the special circumstance allegation of murder while lying in wait, for Dotson’s killing.

Marvin Linnear, 57, was convicted of second-degree murder for Dotson’s killing, but was acquitted of the killings of Palma and Cervantes.

Jurors deadlocked on murder charges against Kevin Salter, 23, and Terrence Adams, 35, in connection with the killings of Palma and Cervantes, but convicted the two of other charges, including attempted murder and conspiracy.

The seven defendants were indicted by a Los Angeles County grand jury in August 2023 following investigations by the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and Inglewood Police Department.

At the sentencing for Ervin and Santos, Tiffney Stines told the two that she would “never” forgive them.

Stines — whose two daughters were killed while celebrating her younger daughter’s birthday — said everyone keeps telling her that she’s strong. She told the two defendants that she is strong “because I refuse to let you all break me,” while adding that they had taken “two of the most beautiful souls.”

Hamilton’s father, Marlon Hamilton, said there has been nothing worse than getting a call informing him that his daughter was dead.

“You took my soul … a piece of me,” he told the defendants.

Griffin’s mother, Shinika Williams, said she has experienced “an ache in my chest that will never go away” and called what happened a “devastating loss.”

She called her son a “young man full of love” who fiercely loved his own young son, who has now been left without a father.