The getaway driver in the armed holdup of a North Park marijuana dispensary, in which an accomplice was shot and killed by a security guard, was sentenced Monday to eight years in prison.
Atiim Smith, a 23-year-old gang member, pleaded guilty last month to attempted murder and a weapons charge.
Smith’s co-defendant, 18-year-old Kurese Bell, is set to go to trial in October on murder and other charges. Bell, who is also charged in the robbery of a smoke shop on El Cajon Boulevard four days before the dispensary robbery, faces life in prison if convicted, said Deputy District Attorney Chris Moon.
Another co-defendant, Jonathan Vincent Collins, 22, pleaded guilty to a robbery charge with a gang allegation and was sentenced in April to 12 years in prison.
The armed robbery and fatal shooting occurred about 12:30 p.m. on April 25, 2014, in the 3800 block of Ray Street.
Smith’s fingerprints were found in a car impounded by police after the robbery.
At a preliminary hearing in January, Detective Jana Beard testified that security guard Henry Smith told her he fatally shot 18-year-old Marlon Thomas after Thomas and another robber threatened to kill him and the dispensary owner.
The security guard was shot in the abdomen and the bullet lodged in his pelvis. He has recovered and is working again, Moon said.
— City News Service