DATE: Wednesday, April 30, 1997             TAG: 9704300568

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NAOMI AOKI, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   56 lines

LAST OF THREE DEFENDANTS DRAWS 72 YEARS IN SLAYING OF 3-YEAR-OLD ALTHOUGH JERMAINE BELL DIDN'T FIRE THE FATAL SHOT, HE'S STILL CULPABLE, JUDGE SAYS.

A Circuit Court judge sentenced the last of three defendants in the murder of 3-year-old Taylor Ricks to 72 years in prison Tuesday, even though he did not fire the fatal shot.

The sentencing of 18-year-old Jermaine Bell comes a little more than a year after Taylor was struck in the head by a stray bullet during a feud that erupted into gunfire.

The little girl was in an upstairs bedroom in the 100 block of Hough Ave. when she heard what she thought were fireworks. She was hit by a single bullet from a semi-automatic rifle when she peered out the window. She died at a hospital.

``Everyone understands that Bell didn't pull the trigger, but what they did when they fired all those shots into a city block showed a complete disregard for human life,'' prosecutor Chuck Griffith said Tuesday.

``The evidence showed that Bell was the first to see Cecil Manley, the intended victim,'' Griffith said. ``The judge recognized that if it weren't for Bell, none of this would have ever happened.''

Judge Junius P. Fulton III sentenced Bell to 72 years for murder, attempted murder and two firearms charges. As Fulton handed down the sentence, he said Bell had shown no remorse.

Bell, a tall man with a low voice, mumbled and cursed as he left the courtroom.

Bell's sentence falls between the sentences juries have recommended for his co-defendants. They sentenced Ronald Cooke to 93 years and Darrell A. Smith to 38.

Griffith argued that although Bell was not the triggerman, his participation in the shootout meant that he was as guilty as his co-defendants. Testimony during Bell's trial in January indicated he was the driver during at least part of the crime.

Bell's attorney, William H. Swan III, who in January called Taylor's slaying ``an accidental death during the course of an unlawful act,'' argued Tuesday that Bell's crimes weren't as bad as shooting someone down in cold blood.

``My response is it was worse than that,'' Griffith said after the sentencing. ``We're fortunate that there weren't more people killed.''

Two weeks ago, Cooke was convicted of firing the shot that killed Taylor. But the feud that led to Taylor's death began with Smith, who had a history of hostility with Manley, the intended victim. Manley and Smith both have children by the same woman.

The men went gunning for Manley in Berkley last April. Taylor was shot as they chased him.

In his statement to police, Bell admitted firing a weapon and driving a vehicle containing the men that day. KEYWORDS: DRIVE BY SHOOTING MURDER SHOOTING CHILD

FATALITY

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