2 women get life in prison for killing 84-year-old woman in California casino
Their sentences for robbery and elder abuse were stayed under the legal tenet that those crimes were part of a single act, the murder of Afaf Assad.
Two Moreno Valley women were sentenced to life in prison without parole on Friday, April 21, for killing an 84-year-old Long Beach woman who was found unconscious with a cracked skull on the floor of a Pechanga Resort Casino bathroom in 2019.
Kimesha Monae Williams, 39, and Candace Tai Townsel, 42, who both have long rap sheets for theft, were convicted in February at Southwest Justice Center in French Valley of murder, robbery and elder abuse, along with a sentencing enhancement of committing a robbery during a murder, after a monthlong trial.
Their sentences for robbery and elder abuse were stayed under the legal tenet that those crimes were part of a single act, the murder of Afaf Assad.
“This has been a long, painful journey through the criminal court justice system,” Assad’s daughter, Mary Assad, said in the victim impact statement she read to the court. “I still can’t believe my mother was the victim of a violent crime. … Part of me died in that hospital room with her.
“My father is without his wife and partner and is isolated and alone in a way we cannot begin to understand … We seek not vengeance but there needs to be a reckoning for their heinous act,” Assad said.
Williams, in a statement read to the court by her attorney, said she did not kill anyone.
“I am so sorry for your loss,” Williams wrote, addressing Mary Assad. “I have been praying for you and your family every day. I am not responsible for the death of Mrs. Assad. Although the courts have found me guilty of the charges, we all know the truth, and that there is one judge, and that is God, and that he knows the truth.”
Townsel did not make a statement.
Williams’ statement did not appear to move Superior Court Judge Timothy F. Freer.
“The idea that either Miss Williams or Miss Townsel is not responsible for the death of a human being is laughable,” Freer said.
“(Assad) lived a long life. Didn’t deserve to be killed, violently murdered in a casino,” Freer said before sentencing. “She was left on a bathroom floor with her head exploding. A casino bathroom, where people go to urinate and defecate and do God knows what else. That’s how her life ended, not with her family and friends around her.”
As Freer sentenced Williams, some of the approximately 15 family members and friends wiped tears and sobbed. A couple gasped and one was doubled over.
There was no such reaction from Williams. Townsel cried and wiped tears.
Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin did not seek the death penalty.
On Aug. 31, 2019, at about 7:30 a.m., Williams and Townsel were in the casino near Temecula when Afaf Assad entered with her husband of 59 years, 93-year-old Youanness, on her right arm and a bright pink purse containing about $1,000 for gambling on her left. Afaf Assad went into the bathroom, followed by Williams as Townsel played lookout, at one point blocking a custodian from entering.
No one other than Assad and Williams saw what happened.
But a woman in a stall heard a thud, and Williams left, joining Townsel in making a beeline for the exit. That woman, and the custodian, found Assad on the floor, her skull fractured and her head bleeding.
Assad died four days after she was injured.
The large purse was missing and was never found.
Riverside County Senior Deputy District Attorney Marcus Garrett contended during the trial that someone ripped the purse from Assad’s arm, leaving a deep laceration where the strap had been, and she was either pushed or fell.
Virginia Blumenthal, one of the leading private criminal defense attorneys in the county, took Williams’ case. She was initially assisted by Peter Ginsberg, a New York lawyer who represented Williams’ brother, Clippers basketball star Kawhi Leonard, in a copyright infringement case. Another private attorney, Richard V. Swanson, who has represented numerous other murder defendants, represented Townsel.
Blumenthal has said “the family” hired her but has declined to say who paid the bills. Leonard was not present Friday.
Blumenthal argued that because the purse was not found, prosecutors could not prove robbery and therefore could not prove murder. She also sought to elicit testimony that Assad could have slipped on a wet floor.
Williams and Townsel were well known to officials at Pechanga and other Inland Empire casinos.
Williams was permanently banned from Pechanga after stealing a wallet in 2015, a casino official said. She was also banned from the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa in Cabazon and the San Manuel (now Yaamava’) Casino in Highland after ripping winning tickets out of victims’ hands, Garrett wrote in a court filing that sought the sentence of life without parole.
Townsel, according to Garrrett’s filing, had been banned for 90 days from the Soboba Casino Resort near San Jacinto in 2017 after two purses disappeared. The next year, the filing said, Morongo Casino banned her after a shoving incident with her boyfriend.
Williams had a conviction for one previous violent crime, attempted robbery, in Los Angeles County.
Of Townsel, Garrett wrote, “Upon being a major participant in (fatally) injuring the victim, the defendant callously fled the scene without rendering any aid and left Ms. Assad to die on the floor of a public restroom. Ms. Townsel celebrated by skipping and waving her arms while fleeing the murder scene.”
Swanson, in a court filing arguing for a light sentence on the elder abuse conviction, said Townsel had been abusing methamphetamine all night and morning. She did not previously have convictions for violent crimes, Swanson wrote, and played a passive role in the crime.
“The death of the victim in this case was unintended by her and an inadvertent, accidental and unintentional result of the robbery. … The claim that she made a ‘jubilant celebration’ as they were leaving the casino was for the fact that they had been there all night and were finally leaving,” Swanson wrote.
Blumenthal did not file any court documents related to Williams’ sentencing.