Results matching “sum mcclane” from Inland Empire Courts

Two men accused of participating in a robbery and fatal shooting last year must stand trial on murder and other charges, a judge ruled today at the conclusion of a preliminary hearing.

Matthew James McClane, 27, and Larry Darnell Shyne, 30, are accused of participating in the December robbery and killing of 41-year-old Kimberly Michelle Sum at an Ontario hotel.

A third man implicated in the incident, 22-year-old Donald Ray Walker, has accepted a plea bargain from prosecutors for a reduced sentence in exchange for his testimony against McClane and Shyne.

Following three days of testimony in West Valley Superior court -- from Walker, police officers and others -- Judge Stephan G. Saleson ruled that McClane and Shyne must stand trial.

The two men are due back in court Nov. 4.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- Wearing green jail clothing for inmates in protective custody, one of three men connected to a prostitute's killing took the witness stand today to testify against his alleged co-conspirators.

Though he's been "toe-tagged" -- or marked for death by his gang -- for cooperating with authorities, in two days on the witness stand Donald Ray Walker detailed the December robbery that ended in the shooting death of Kimberly Michelle Sum, 41.

Matthew James McClane, 27, and Larry Darnell Shyne, 30, both face murder charges and life prison sentences for Sum's killing at an Ontario hotel.

Their preliminary hearing, which began Thursday, is set to resume Wednesday afternoon in West Valley Superior Court. Both men remained jailed today in lieu of $1.5 million bail.

Walker, who confessed when he was arrested in March, accepted a plea bargain from prosecutors last week for 17 years in state prison. As part of the plea bargain, Walker, 22, must testify against McClane and Shyne.

Shyne, Sum's former pimp, is accused of orchestrating the robbery to benefit financially, and to frighten Sum into returning to him for protection.

Shyne, of Pomona, enlisted Walker, his cousin from South Los Angeles, and McClane, an alleged gang associate of Walker's, to assist him in the robbery, Walker testified today.

The evening of Dec. 20, Shyne picked up Walker and McClane in his burgundy Cadillac, and the group traveled together to the Hotel Indigo, a newly opened boutique hotel just northwest of Haven Avenue and the 10 Freeway.

While Shyne waited in the car, Walker and McClane went to Sum's hotel room to rob her. Walker testified that he was surprised to see that McClane brought a pistol with him.

After less than two minutes in Sum's room, McClane shot and killed Sum. Walker testified that McClane told him the shooting was accidental.

When Shyne learned of the shooting, "he was upset," Walker testified. "Nobody expected that to happen."

Walker testified that he and McClane were unable to find money or any valuables in Sum's room.

Using surveillance footage from the hotel, Ontario police were able to identify Walker and McClane as the two men pictured, according to police reports.

During initial interviews with police after his March 12 arrest, Walker denied any involvement in the shooting.

But during the interrogation, Walker learned that his girlfriend had been arrested after police found marijuana during a search of her home, Walker testified.

A detective told Walker that the woman would be released if he told the truth about the incident, and Walker then opted to tell the truth, Walker testified.

Walker said he accepted the plea bargain from prosecutors last week because he didn't want to spend the rest of his life in prison for murder.

"I thought I'd do my time for the robbery," Walker said. "I didn't know about this other stuff. It's overwhelming."

Walker's testimony against his co-defendants was videotaped in court today and last week.

The recording was made to preserve his testimony, said Deputy District Attorney Carolyn Youngberg.

In their cross examination of Walker, defense attorneys for Shyne and McClane repeatedly questioned Walker's motive for testifying his alleged co-conspirators.

Shyne's defense attorney, David Call, asked Walker whether he was testifying to secure a prison sentence of "only 17 years" rather than life.

"You said 'only 17 years' like that's short," Walker responded.

Under questioning from Youngberg, Walker said he didn't want to return from protective custody in West Valley Detention Center to a "general population" section of the Rancho Cucamonga jail where he might come into contact with members of his gang.

"That's because you have a toe tag on you?" Youngberg asked.

"Correct," Walker responded.

Shyne and McClane have not been offered plea bargains, Youngberg said.

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The three Pomona men arrested this month for the December shooting death of a 41-year-old woman at a boutique hotel allegedly conspired to rob the woman because they believed she kept large sums of cash in her hotel room.

Kimberly Michelle Sum, a mother of two, was discovered dead in her room Dec. 20 at the Hotel Indigo in Ontario. She had been shot once in the upper chest.

According to multiple people interviewed by police, including Sum's teenage daughter, Sum was a drug addict and a prostitute.

Sum used cash to pay for her room at the Hotel Indigo, located northwest of the 10 Freeway and Haven Avenue, where she had been living since late July 2008, a hotel staff member told Ontario police investigators, according to police reports.

One of the men arrested for Sum's murder -- 29-year-old Larry Darnell Shyne -- was at one time Sum's pimp, according to several people interviewed by police.

Shyne conceived and help to organize the robbery, according to police reports.

Shyne allegedly enlisted the help of two people for the robbery -- his cousin, 21-year-old Donald Ray Walker, and Matthew James McClane, 27. Both men were on parole at the time.

Shyne was arrested March 14, and Walker and McClane were arrested March 12. All three have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and robbery, and each remain in custody at West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga in lieu of $1.5 million bail.

After Walker was arrested, he granted an interview with detectives and confessed to participating in the robbery, which he said ended unexpectedly in Sum's death.

Walker, who was released from prison Nov. 26, told police that Shyne contacted him and suggested they rob a woman he knew -- Sum -- who kept large amounts of cash in her bedroom because of her occupation as a call girl.

"(Shyne) was hoping to get some money, and scare the victim so she would come back to him," according to the police account of Walker's interview.

Shyne instructed Walker and McClane to arrange a meeting with Sum through Craig's List, a classified-listings Web site where Sum advertised her services, Walker told police.

At about 11 p.m. on Dec. 19, Shyne dropped off McClane and Walker at the hotel, and the two men proceeded to Sum's room, each putting on gloves before they arrived, hotel surveillance footage shows, according to the police report.

According to Walker, Sum opened the door for the two men into wearing a white bathrobe.

McClane asked Sum several times where "the money" was, and hit her. "She kept saying, 'What money?'" Walker told police.

Walker said Sum's voice got louder and louder during the course of the encounter, and McClane took out a chrome pistol and shot her.

"Walker looked up and said he wanted to keep it real, and he said he asked McClane why he shot her," the police report states. "McClane told him it was an accident."

Walker repeatedly insisted the two men did not go to Sum's room intending to kill her.

"I admit I was at the motel -- I admit it," Walker told police, according to the report. "I didn't do the shooting!"

Walker told police he and McClane did not find any money or jewelry in Sum's room.

About three weeks after Sum's killing, Ontario police publicly released images of the two alleged robbers captured by the Hotel Indigo's surveillance system.

After the images were released, police received multiple anonymous tips that Walker was one of the men pictured. The informants said Walker bragged of the robbery and murder.

Walker, McClane and Shyne are next due in West Valley Superior Court on April 9.

When Sum first arrived at the Hotel Indigo, she was living at the hotel with her new husband, Essie Bell, and was known to hotel staff as Kimberly Bell, hotel staff members told police.

Bell, who was also allegedly Sum's pimp, was arrested and imprisoned in August 2008 for violating parole, according to the police report.

After Bell was imprisoned at the California Institute for Men in Chino, Shyne began pimping Sum, one of Sum's former roommates told police.

Shyne allegedly knew Sum because Sum was friends with Shyne's girlfriend, Jerica Mangham, a prostitute who went by the nickname "Diamond."

Click here for past stories on Sum's killing.

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Three Pomona men have been arrested and charged with murder for the December shooting death of a 41-year-old woman at a newly opened boutique hotel.

Kimberly Michelle Sum, a mother of two, died of a single gunshot wound to her upper body on Dec. 20.

Sum was unresponsive when staff members discovered her alone in her room at Hotel Indigo, a boutique hotel that opened in July just northwest of Haven Avenue and the 10 Freeway.

Last week, Ontario police officers arrested three men on suspicion on murdering Sum: Donald Ray Walker, 21; Matthew James McClane, 27; and Larry Darnell Shyne, 29.

Prosecutors have charged the three men with murder, and each man has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Each man remained jailed Tuesday at West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga in lieu of $1.5 million bail. They are each due back Thursday in West Valley Superior Court.

Following the death of Sum, who lived at the hotel for about three months prior to her death, police identified Walker, McClane and Shyne as the three men they believe were responsible for the killing, according to an Ontario police news release.

Surveillance video footage from the hotel shows two men -- later identified by police as Walker and McClane -- leave Sum's room at the time of the shooting, then run to the hotel's parking lot several seconds later, according to a police news release from January.

Police say it's unclear what motivated the the shooting.

"Robbery is possibly a motive, but it's undetermined and unclear what the true motive was for the murder," said Ontario police detective Jeff Crittenden.

Crittende declined to identify which of the three men is the alleged gunman.

Jeff Wentz, the Ontario detective who investigated the shooting, declined to comment Tuesday when asked about the circumstances of the shooting.

Walker and McClane were each arrested Thursday in Pomona after police simultaneously served searched warrants on each man's home.

Walker was arrested in the 2400 block of Valhalla Street, and McClane was arrested at the Lemon Tree Motel in the 1700 block of Gillette Road.

Shyne was arrested Saturday in San Bernardino following an unrelated traffic stop, according to the news release.

An earlier version of this blog post incorrectly reported Sum's last name as Sun.

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