| For Immediate Release Case # 04NF4451 March 11, 2011 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami
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MAN SENTENCED TO LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE FOR EXECUTION-STYLE MURDER OF ANAHEIM LIQUOR STORE OWNER
SANTA ANA – A man was sentenced today to life in state prison without the possibility of parole for his role in the shooting-murder of a Korean-American liquor store owner while burglarizing the store. Raheem Abdul Edwards, 30, was found guilty by a jury Feb. 10, 2011, of one felony count of special circumstances murder in the commission of robbery and burglary.
Co-defendant Robert Quenton Feeney, 30, (Case # 04NF4355) was found guilty by a jury April 22, 2008, of murder and the sentencing enhancements for murder during the commission of robbery and burglary were found true. He was sentenced June 13, 2008, to life in state prison without the possibility of parole.
At approximately 9:25 a.m. on Dec. 15, 2000, Edwards and Feeney went to the Lucky Seven Liquor Mart in Anaheim wearing hooded sweatshirts and gloves. The store owner, Haeng Shin Kim, 57, was working behind the counter. The defendants put several items on the counter and Edwards walked away to the back of the store.
The victim followed Edwards to the back of the store and Feeney walked outside. Feeney then re-entered the store and walked to the back toward Edwards and the victim.
Once at the back of the store, Feeney pulled a firearm from the waistband of his pants. As Kim struggled to get away and began to run to the front of the store, Feeney shot the victim one time in the back. The victim fell to the ground and tried to escape by crawling to the door, but Feeney walked up behind the defendant and executed him by shooting him in the back of the head.
Edwards then stole money from the cash register as Feeney watched the door. A customer pulled into the parking lot and the defendants fled the scene. The customer found the victim and called 911. Kim was pronounced dead at the scene. The murder was captured on surveillance cameras from the liquor store.
On Dec. 3, 2004, Feeney was arrested in Independence, Mo., on a probation violation related to an Iowa sexual assault conviction. Detectives from the Anaheim Police Department interviewed Feeney in Missouri and the defendant was brought back to Orange County to face charges.
Edwards was charged as a fugitive on Dec. 13, 2004. The defendant was featured on the television program America’s Most Wanted. He was extradited from New York to Orange County on July 30, 2009, where he was serving a life sentence for a murder in New York that he committed after the murder of Kim.
Kim’s daughter, Susan Kim, prepared a victim impact letter for the sentencing today. The letter read, “The defendant never gave me a chance to say goodbye to my dad. I never got to tell him that I love him. He took my dad away before I had the capacity to truly understand and appreciate all that he did for us. It hurts so much to think about how he died.