A parolee pleaded guilty Thursday to murdering a Los Angeles County sheriff’s sergeant outside a Lancaster apartment complex in October 2016. Trenton Trevon Lovell, 31, of Lancaster, is set to be sentenced May 17 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the execution-style killing of Sgt. Steve Owen, 53, who was shot five times on Oct. 5, 2016, in the 3200 block of West Avenue J-6. Owen — a 29-year department veteran who was well-known for his community involvement — was among those responding to a call of a possible burglary in progress nearby when he broadcast over the police radio that he had the suspect at gunpoint. The murder charge included the special circumstance allegation that Owen was lawfully performing his duties as a peace officer when he was intentionally killed. Prosecutors had opted not to seek the death penalty against Lovell. Shortly after being sworn into office last December, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon issued a series of directives, including one that “a sentence of death is never an appropriate resolution in any case. ”In a statement issued after Lovell’s guilty plea, Gascon said the sergeant had “sacrificed his life to protect the community he served. ”“This plea will not bring Sergeant Owen back, but will hopefully provide some small measure of peace to his family, ” the district attorney said. Along with first-degree murder, Lovell pleaded guilty to a series of other crimes the same day as the sergeant’s killing. Those included an attempted murder charge for using Owen’s patrol car to ram sheriff’s Deputy Zachary Anderson’s patrol car, along with two counts each of first-degree residential robbery and false imprisonment by violence for fleeing to a nearby home occupied by a 19-year-old woman and her 17-year-old brother, where Lovell holed up for about an hour before fleeing. He also pleaded guilty to one count each of first-degree residential burglary and possession of a firearm by a felon. Lovell — who had two prior convictions from 2006 and 2009 for robbery and was on parole at the time of Owen’s slaying — agreed to waive all appellate rights as a result of the plea agreement. Lovell acknowledged that he understood that he was facing a prison sentence with no foreseeable chance of release. After the hearing, Deputy District Attorney Michael Blake called it a “fair and appropriate disposition. ”“I think that what Trenton Lovell has done is very significant in accepting this negotiated plea, ” Blake told City News Service. At a June 2018 hearing in which Lovell was ordered to stand trial, Anderson testified that he heard three to four pops that sounded like gunfire before he arrived at the apartment complex.“I saw Sergeant Owen laying on his back and a male Black standing over him, ” the deputy testified before identifying Lovell in court. The deputy said he yelled at Lovell to “get on the ground” and that Lovell “pointed the gun that he was holding at me.
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