Convict Pleads for His Life

A former casino security guard convicted of killing three men in a roadside shooting asked an Atlantic County jury to let him live.

"I ask you to spare my life. I am so central to the lives of my family. It would hurt them so much if I were gone," Lloyd Massey II said Monday. "I ask you to grant me that mercy. And I promise you, you won't regret it."

Massey was convicted June 12 in the shooting deaths of Michael Demps, 20, Lamont Wilson, 19, and Richard White Jr., 26. Demps was known as D-Bear, Wilson as Ump, and White as Tyree.

A fourth occupant of the car, Terrance Harris, 21, survived.

Massey and the victims are all from Pleasantville. He faces the death penalty or life in prison.

"I want to send out my condolences to the families," said Massey, 22, said in his first remarks in court since the trial began May 6. "I can't tell you how bad I feel for the families of Ump, Tyree and D-Bear."

"I know it's kind of hard to understand because you found me guilty," he told the jury, which deliberated two days before convicting Massey of three counts of murder and other charges in connection with the Sept. 8, 2000 slayings.

Members of the victims' families also addressed the jury, describing their sorrow.

White's mother, Diane White, said, "I miss my son being with us to share our life. I don't have a son. My grandkids don't have a father. It hurts me to see my grandkids so hurt."

Richard White had five children.

Penalty deliberations were to begin after summations, with started Tuesday.

Massey had an altercation with the victims in the parking lot of an Egg Harbor Township bar. He then followed them in his car as they drove east toward Atlantic City.

When they stopped at a red light, Massey got out of his truck and opened fire with an AK-47 assault rifle, spraying their car with gunfire, according to prosecutors.

Massey was arrested in Georgia several days later.

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Author: 6 ABC-AP