Hearing Suspended When Murderer Tries To Leave Long Beach Courtroom
LONG BEACH (CBSLA) – A sentencing hearing for a 23-year-old Oklahoma man convicted of murdering a woman and her 4-year-old daughter in Long Beach was disrupted when he tried to leave the courtroom and had to be restrained Friday morning.
A little before 9:45 a.m., Brandon Ivan Colbert Jr. tried to leave the Long Beach courtroom just before victim impact statements were set to be read, according to KNX 1070 reporter Margaret Carrero. Colbert allegedly told the judge he did not want to stay, then tried to get up. He was taken to the ground by several Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies, Carrero said. A recess was then declared.
Following the recess, he was brought back into the courtroom. With his arms strapped down to a gurney, a judge sentenced Colbert to two consecutive life sentences without parole.
"You have not demonstrated any respect, sorrow nor remorse for this family, for the victims, or their loved ones," Superior Court Judge Jesse Rodriguez told Colbert.
On the night of Aug. 6, 2016, Colbert opened fire with a shotgun on 26-year-old Carina Mancera, her young daughter Jennabel Anaya, and Jennabel's father and Carina's boyfriend, Luis Anaya, as they were walking home after grocery shopping.
Mancera was declared dead at the scene. Jennabel died at a nearby hospital hours later. Luis was not struck by the gunfire.
A Long Beach jury found Colbert guilty a week ago of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. Jurors also found true the special circumstance allegations of murder while lying in wait and multiple murders, along with allegations that he personally discharged a firearm.
Colbert has been in custody since about three weeks after the killings, when he was arrested by Los Angeles police on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle and a DNA swab was obtained from him. He was charged in November 2016 in connection with the killings after DNA evidence linked him to the crime, police said.
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