Barbershop co-owner blasts jury in Larry Hammett killing

POMONA -- The co-owner of the Groom Time barbershop blasted jurors in the Larry Hammett murder trial today for acquitting one defendant Thursday and finding the other guilty of only voluntary manslaughter.

Tony Brown, who said he has known Hammett and his family for 20 years, said of the jury: "I look at them like they were riding in the car with that guy. ... They're just as guilty as them. The blood of Larry is on their hands."

"That was just a cold-blooded jury not to look at the evidence like they did," Brown continued. "They did not look at the evidence. ... Those jurors, they might as well have been Keyon's friend and let him off the hook. They're just as guilty as him."

Brown said business as Groom Time, located on Holt Avenue since 1991, has suffered because of publicity over Omari Ali and Keyon Rasheed Hill's murder trial. But Brown insists his barbershop is not dangerous.

"We're a family, Christian barbershop. We don't even use profanity in here," said Brown, of Pomona. "We're not gangsters or anything like that."

Brown said Hammett, a low-volume marijuana dealer, usually dealt with people his own age. Hammett was 46. Brown believes Ali, 21, and Hill, 20, may have seen Hammett as an easy target for robbery.

Prosecutors believe Ali and Hill robbed Hammett of marijuana and other items on July 27, 2008. Ali shot Hammett, according to prosecutors, because Hammett resisted the men's robbery attempt.

"I was totally out of his character for him to mess with anyone like that," Brown said.

The day of Hammett's death, Hill, of the Pomona area, came to Pomona with Ali and Ali's girlfriend, Breeana Finley, to look at apartments in the city, the defendants said. The Los Angeles couple said they were thinking of moving to Pomona.

The group said they went to Groom Time afterward to purchase marijuana from Hammett, not to rob him. Ali testified last week that Hammett pulled a gun on him and he feared for his life, so he snatched it out of Hammett's hands and shot him.

Prosecutors and Hammett's friend and family believe Hill, who often visited the barbershop, orchestrated the alleged robbery and enlisted his friend Ali to help carry it out.

Ali, said Brown, "got and the stand and lied, completely lied. And the one that walks away is the one that set the whole deal up in the first place."

Brown lamented that his business "still has to suffer" because of the incident, and at the same time he must "watch out for (Hill) every day in the community."