Bloods member known as ‘G.I.’ sent to prison
A member of the Bloods gang was sentenced to 20 years in prison today in the 2006 slaying of LaVonne Adkins in Willingboro.
A member of the Bloods gang was sentenced to 20 years in prison today in the 2006 slaying of LaVonne Adkins in Willingboro.
Joseph "G.I." Townsend, 21, pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter earlier this year. The Camden resident also pleaded guilty to one count each of second-degree aggravated assault in the shootings of Maurice Brown in Camden and LaVonne's brother, Eric Adkins, in Willingboro.
Both victims - teenagers at the time - survived.
Superior Court Judge John A. Almeida today sentenced Townsend to 20 years in prison in the Adkins killing, and 10 years each on the other counts. The sentences will be served concurrently, and Almeida estimated Townsend could be out of jail in 17 or 18 years.
The case of Townsend and others accused in the attacks offered a window into how the violent Bloods gang operated in South Jersey.
Tarell Ambrose, reputedly a high-ranking Bloods leader, has admitted that he issued an order from his Camden jail cell that LaVonne Adkins and Brown be killed for breaking gang rules.
A carload of Bloods, including Townsend, pulled up to the Adkins house in Willingboro one night in 2006 to carry out Ambrose's wishes. Shawn Cook has said in court he was the one who pulled the trigger on the Adkins brothers outside.
Eric Adkins, not an original target, was hospitalized for nearly a month.
Their two victims felled by bullets, the group went on to Camden and shot Brown, who had been with them hours earlier at the Adkins home on Melbourne Lane.
Nina Sheppard, Ambrose, and Cook pleaded guilty this year. Their case ended in a mistrial in June 2008 after an anonymous person threatened a juror. Brown, along with other defendants who had already taken plea deals, testified during the trial.
Sheppard pleaded guilty in February this year in exchange for five years in prison and testimony in the second trial of Cook and Ambrose. During jury selection in April, Cook and Ambrose took plea deals.
In June, Cook was sentenced to 30 years. Ambrose received 22.