Toshima's Slayer Gets 27 Years to Life in Prison Gangs: Woman was innocent victim of Westwood Village shooting in 1988. Incident shocked L.A. into the realization that street violence could occur anywhere.: [Home Edition]

Gang member Durrell DeWitt Collins was sentenced to 27 years to life in prison Friday for the 1988 shooting death of Karen Toshima in Westwood Village, a killing that shocked Los Angeles into the realization that street violence is not limited to minority neighborhoods in South and East Los Angeles.

Santa Monica Superior Court Judge James A. Albracht noted in sentencing Collins that the 23-year-old defendant had committed an "unspeakable act." But he observed, at the same time, that Collins had been in trouble since age 11, adding that society had also failed Collins.

"It happens again and again," Albracht said. "He (Collins) didn't burst on the scene in Westwood. These young people are no secret to us. They are walking time bombs. We failed the Durrell Collinses of the world. We failed ourselves as a society."

Albracht could have sentenced Collins to two consecutive...