Eric Lamont Hinton
Facts of the Crime:
Sentenced to death in Los Angeles County on December 10, 1993 in the May 24, 1988 murders of Tenoa L. Stevenson, Albert Brown, Jr., and Landis Barnes. The three men were killed at the Best Western Monterey Park Inn during what police said was a drug deal Hinton had set up in order to rob them. Witnesses said Barnes and Brown died at the scene, but Stevenson managed to stagger outside before being chased by two men, one of whom exited the vehicle to pursue him on foot and shoot him again, fatally, in a nearby used car lot.
The prosecution theory was that Brown and Barnes were about to test the supposed cocaine that Hinton brought to the motel, which was really flour, when they were shot in the head. Then Hinton’s accomplice, Steven Hicks, allegedly shot Stevenson, and Hinton shot at another man, Jeffrey Cunningham, who feigned death and later testified under a grant of immunity. Hinton was originally arrested and released for lack of evidence, as the murder weapon had not been recovered and Cunningham could not identify him as the shooter.
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