Lodi woman gets 3 years for her role in fatal shooting

Though a jury acquitted a Lodi woman of murder and prosecutors agreed that she didn't fatally shoot a grandmother, a judge on Monday sentenced her to the maximum of three years in prison for accessory after the fact.

Amera Addi, now 21, cried as a bailiff placed handcuffs on her wrists. Though she had jail credits for more than the normal two-year sentence for accessory, Judge Bernard Garber handed down the maximum sentence. That means Addi will go to prison before she is paroled.

Garber remanded her to immediate custody, ignoring the pleas of Addi's attorney to give her a date to turn herself in so that she can finish the current semester of college.

"I do believe that there is a difference between an accessory after a minor felony such as a forgery and an accessory after a murder, which is the most serious felony," Garber said.

Addi was arrested in December 2007, two months after a 49-year-old woman was gunned down in a Swain Drive home. Georgina Perez was visiting her young grandson and was sitting in a home behind closed curtains when a bullet struck her in the head.

At trial, prosecutors showed evidence that the suspected shooter, a 15-year-old boy, mistakenly shot the wrong half of a duplex. Prosecutors believe he had previously been involved in a gang-related dispute on the shared driveway, then came back for retaliation.

Addi drove the vehicle that night, but maintained that she had no idea there would be a shooting. Later she drove the suspected shooter to Lodi Lake, where he buried the gun.

Her attorney, Doug Goss, said Addi would have originally pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact, for her role in covering up the gun, but prosecutors declined. Deputy District Attorney Mark Ott left it to a jury to decide if Addi knew whether the shooting was going to happen. At the time she was dating someone in the suspected shooter's gang.

Addi has since "severed that relationship; she has resumed strong ties with her family," Goss said.

The jury reached its verdict June 12, and Addi's bail was then lowered to $25,000. She soon posted bail and has since attended several court hearings, Goss said.

Addi is currently taking medical assistance courses at Kaplan College, and Goss said she has gotten A's on every test.

Ott argued that Addi could have told police more information sooner, including the location of the gun. By the time she told police nearly two months after the shooting, the gun was rusted from being buried in mud, and no DNA could be found on it.

He said it's unlikely that there will ever be enough evidence to prosecute the shooter.

Goss, in turn, argued that Addi was in fear for her life, because of the gang involvement.

Addi spent 559 days in jail awaiting trial and also received half-time credit for good behavior, for a total of 838 days, or more than two years.

The three-year sentence for accessory would allow Addi to be paroled after she served half that time, or 548 days. In other words, once she gets to a women's prison, she will likely soon return home.

Contact reporter Layla Bohm at layla@lodinews.com.

Reader Feedback

Great American Trucker wrote on Sep 26, 2009 5:45 PM:

" Such sad doe eyes, the pity play, the only true mark of a sociopath, who is only sad that she has been caught. She could not care less about the victim or the family, only that she is being wrongfully punished, in her opinion. "Others did the deed! I didn't know what was going on..." Right. Pretty good hustle. Too bad she won't be incapacitated for a much longer period of time. "

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Lodi woman gets 3 years for her role in fatal shooting

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