Two cousins pleaded no contest Thursday to voluntary manslaughter in the death of a US Marine who was beaten and abandoned on a Bellflower street before being hit by a passing vehicle.
Damari Kensey, 22, of Long Beach, and Jaymel Williams, 29, of Inglewood, were both promptly sentenced to 11 years in state prison, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Last year, the two were charged with murder in connection with Peter Chounthala’s death on May 28, 2024.
Chounthala was leaving a bar in Bellflower shortly before 2 a.m. that day when the two followed him outside and beat him, leaving him lying in the middle of Artesia Boulevard in active traffic lanes, where he was later struck by a vehicle, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Authorities reported last year that the driver did not stop and remains unidentified. According to deputies, the automobile that hit him was a dark-colored, four-door 2021-23 Kia K5 sedan.
Chounthala, an active-duty Marine and married parent with a 3-year-old son, died at the scene.
“This brutal and senseless act took the life of a husband, father, and Marine who served our country with honor, including tours in Afghanistan and multiple Marine expeditionary units,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement announcing the criminal case against the two defendants last June. “We will not tolerate this violence in our communities.”
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