Thursday, August 7, 2008

USC Football Recruit, Other Man Convicted

A USC football recruit and a second man accused of robbing a male victim at gunpoint were convicted Wednesday by a Compton Superior Court jury.

After a day of deliberations, jurors found Maurice Leon Simmons, 18, and Lamont Lee Hall, 20, guilty of second-degree robbery and assault with a firearm. Additionally, Simmons was convicted of permitting a loaded firearm in a vehicle, a misdemeanor, and Hall was convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon.

The jury also found true the allegation that Hall personally used a handgun in the commission of the crime and, as to both defendants, found true the allegation that a principal in the robbery was armed with a firearm.

Superior Court Judge Arthur Lew remanded Simmons into custody and denied bail. Hall has been in custody since his arrest in March. Judge Lew ordered Simmons and Hall back for sentencing on Aug. 28.

Simmons, of Compton, faces a maximum state prison sentence of seven years and six months. Hall, of Los Angeles, faces a maximum sentence of 16 years and eight months in prison.

Simmons – a former linebacker from Dominguez High School in Compton – signed a letter of intent to accept an athletic scholarship at USC on Feb. 6, according to media reports.

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