LONG BEACH -- A trial date was set Tuesday for two Long Beach teens charged with the 2009 slaying of a 16-year-old Wilson High School honor student gunned down at the end of her school's homecoming game.
Tom Love Vinson and Daivion Davis, who were both 16 at the time of the shooting, are charged as adults in the in the slaying of Melody Ross, who was also 16.
The pair were ordered Tuesday to return to the Long Beach Superior Court on Aug. 8 for trial.
They are also charged with attempted murder in the shooting of two male survivors - an 18-year-old and a 20-year-old, who are believed to be rival gang members of Vinson and Davis, police and prosecutors said.
Police said the defendants were aiming for their rivals when a stray round struck Ross, an innocent bystander.
The honor roll student and daughter of Cambodian immigrants had just finished watching at her first live football game, where she rooted for her home team against Poly High School.
She and thousands of other spectators were streaming out of the west gates of the campus, near the football field, when the shots rang out.
Dozens of witnesses were called to testify in the preliminary hearing held last year for Vinson, now 18, and Davis, now 17. Several were threatened or intimidated inside the courtroom and in the court house hallways.
Two teen girls, both students at Wilson, were charged and tried for witnesses threats in juvenile court with the petition found true, the equivalent of a guilty verdict, and placed on probation.
Vinson, who is from Bellflower, and Davis, of Long Beach, have remained in custody without bail since their arrests in 2009.
If convicted on all counts, they could each face more than 100 years to life in prison, prosecutors said.
Tom Love Vinson and Daivion Davis, who were both 16 at the time of the shooting, are charged as adults in the in the slaying of Melody Ross, who was also 16.
The pair were ordered Tuesday to return to the Long Beach Superior Court on Aug. 8 for trial.
They are also charged with attempted murder in the shooting of two male survivors - an 18-year-old and a 20-year-old, who are believed to be rival gang members of Vinson and Davis, police and prosecutors said.
Police said the defendants were aiming for their rivals when a stray round struck Ross, an innocent bystander.
The honor roll student and daughter of Cambodian immigrants had just finished watching at her first live football game, where she rooted for her home team against Poly High School.
She and thousands of other spectators were streaming out of the west gates of the campus, near the football field, when the shots rang out.
Dozens of witnesses were called to testify in the preliminary hearing held last year for Vinson, now 18, and Davis, now 17. Several were threatened or intimidated inside the courtroom and in the court house hallways.
Two teen girls, both students at Wilson, were charged and tried for witnesses threats in juvenile court with the petition found true, the equivalent of a guilty verdict, and placed on probation.
Vinson, who is from Bellflower, and Davis, of Long Beach, have remained in custody without bail since their arrests in 2009.
If convicted on all counts, they could each face more than 100 years to life in prison, prosecutors said.
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