LANCASTER – A man who allegedly killed another man during an afternoon street brawl in Lancaster in 2012 has been caught and charged with murder.
Cedric Carl Burton Jr., aka Dirty Devil aka Lil Ced, was arrested Wednesday while entering the Antelope Valley Courthouse on an unrelated case, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The 30-year-old was charged Thursday with murder, and the charge includes special circumstance allegations of lying in wait and murder to further the activities of a criminal street gang, according to Deputy District Attorney Jon Hatami. The allegations open Burton to a possible death sentence, but prosecutors will decide later whether to seek capital punishment.
He is scheduled to be arraigned June 9 in Lancaster.
On Nov. 29, 2012, Brandy “Brandon” Houston, 21, was fatally shot during a brawl in the 43000 block of Gadsden Avenue, according to prosecutors and the sheriff’s department.
According to the sheriff’s department, the fight began as an argument between Houston and his live-in girlfriend, who called her sister for a ride.
Her sister instead sent her boyfriend at the time, Terrell Henderson, who arrived with Randy Sullivan and Joshua Lockett to pick her up, according to testimony from the 2014 trial.
Later, they returned with two other men — one of whom allegedly was Burton — and a street brawl ensued involving around a dozen people, the prosecutor said.
During the fight, Burton allegedly walked through the crowd directly to Houston and shot him 12 times, killing him, the prosecutor said.
Henderson, Sullivan and Lockett were later arrested, tried and convicted of second-degree murder. All three were sentenced in 2014 to potential life prison terms.
In a November 2015, a state appeals court panel rejected the defense’s claim that there was insufficient evidence to support their convictions.
The three-justice appellate court panel found that the evidence established the three dropped off the victim’s girlfriend and her baby and then “drove away with the singular purpose of going back to fight Houston and his family.”
“Here, there was evidence defendants sought out a confrontation with Houston’s group. They picked up two additional men as backup, including the shooter,” the justices found in a 20-page ruling.
The California Supreme Court refused in February to review the case against the three.
Previous related stories:
Man gets 17 to life for Lancaster daylight shooting death
Man gets 35 to life for Lancaster street brawl murder
Man gets 15 to life for daylight murder
Trio found guilty in Lancaster street brawl murder
Trial opens for 3 charged in daylight murder
Trio pleads not guilty in daylight shooting death
Gunman still at large in daylight shooting death, witnesses say
Kealynn Johnson says
Bye [removed]
Mike says
Guess who gets to fund their “lifestyle”? That’s right, the taxpayers who are going to work. Hopefully President Trump will put a stop to this nonsense.
Gladys says
Taxpayers would be funding their lifestyle if they were out of jail too. One way or another. At least with them in jail, they aren’t having more kids for us to support.
Courtney says
You’re so ignorant. How do you figure? I’m a 29 black woman, college educated, and my family has never depended on the government.
Kat says
Wtf is donald trump going to do to stop this? He lives in new York where ghettos and gangs run the streets.
So Whats Up says
Mike why dont you put a stop to it I see you on here TALKING A LOT OF [removed] but thats about it have some balls and walk up to a group of people talking all your trump [removed] and that other nonsense about illegals and lets see what happens I bet your just a [removed] who likes to hid in the safety of his house in a dark room where you THINK that you are safe and nobody knows who you are thats some [removed] right boy! Hahahaha what a sorry punk so sorry in fact that you have to feel good about yourself or the [removed] you think you stand for by leaving messages on these boards where greiving family members can see them but like I said thats some bitch shit.you never know who knows you homeboy sometimes you rub people the wrong way and they dont like you very much anymore and they point you out to people who would love to talk to you and take you into the desert and have their way with you for a while a lot of those people would do anything for bottle or a hit even 100 bucks and let me tell you its white people too hahahahahahaha and i know you know exactly who im talking about [removed] be respectful to others and their families [removed].
William says
What do you care about taxes, mike? I bet you cheat on yours.
As for Trump. You really believe what that goofy liar says one day only to say the opposite the next.
He even denies saying things that are on tape. But, that’s your speed.
You really deserve a Trump presidency. However, the rest of us know better. I can’t believe what a simpleton you are and ai proud of it.
Shane Falco says
We discussed this a while back at work and let’s see if anybody else sees this.
You have a bunch of people on a Thursday, mid day, just doing nothing. A group of them decide to go over to another group of people, doing nothing on a work day, and they start a brawl with over a dozen people….along with nearly 20-30 more people who watched. There are 40-50, able bodied people, not working, no job at which to be, just fighting in the street and then one guy shoots another.
Then it takes 3 1/2 years to catch the guy, that half the people know his identity, but nobody singles out a killer in their own midst.
It’s funny how much lower the crime rate is in neighborhoods where people just go to work. You work, you pay your bills, you don’t live in high crime apartments or townhouses….and you aren’t involved in a mid day street brawl and kill people.
TIMSCOTT4MAYOR says
How do you know none of them had jobs? enlighten us please Shane, how do you know if the apartments this incident took place at was ridden with high crime?
Tim Scott says
The funniest part of that, of course, is t5hat when you “discussed it at work” you were discussing it with people who do not have a standard 9-5 M-F schedule so might very well be doing nothing in particular in the middle of the day on a Thursday themselves.
Meanwhile, if you approach this without the usual denial and start from “most people hate the cops” it makes a lot more sense. The “killer in their midst” isn’t some random nutbag shooting up an elementary school. He shot someone who was at the time in the middle of a street brawl. Since I don’t get in the middle of street brawls I have no great concern about this guy. Certainly not enough concern to make it worth talking to a cop. I’d rather get a tooth drilled without anesthesia than talk to a cop, generally, and even my recently acquired cop friend knows I’d never talk to him on a professional basis. If you accept that the vast majority have come to feel the same way this actually falls under “to be expected.”
Cleo Watts Jr says
I know lots of people that don’t work 9-5 jobs either. The difference is, on their off days, my friends aren’t in the middle of ghetto street Gadsden in a brawl. I issued you a beating a couple weeks ago regarding your fantasy that most people hate cops. You actually have very few supporters who can spell their own names. Your “new found cop friend”? Loss prevention at your Walmart doesn’t count.
Not so much says
It’s obvious people have the perception that Tim “hates cops,” and he very well may. That’s his decision, not yours. I’m not endorsing that aspect, and Tim sure as hell doesn’t need me to come to his rescue. But, dare I say, I am that “new found cop friend.” My only goal was to look past what others in my field would find grotesque, and actually shut my mouth to listen. My standpoint is, “maybe this guy has something viable to say, and I can use it to help make me better at my job.” If not, well, at least it was a darn good cup of coffee with someone who speaks their mind. So yeah. There’s that.
Oh, and the answer is no. I won’t be signing autographs or answering questions regarding my new found status as “the one who broke the barrier.” Carry on With practicing your right to free speech, Tim.
Tim Scott says
Thanks for the backup, and looking forward to the next cup of coffee. By the way…did you choke on Cleo’s “loss prevention at Wal-Mart” assumption? Funny how the people who WON’T come out to meet me are willing to claim so much knowledge, isn’t it?
TIMSCOTTFORMAYOR says
B.S.New found cop friend.if you are listening to tim about how to do your job better, then you dont need to be a cop.you should resign, today.
Nacho Momma says
DF, that you?
Flinteration says
Not so much,
You seem to be a big supporter of Tim. Are you worried that the rampart transfer police officers from lapd will give the dept a bad rep? Tim has evidence that a huge number of officers working here are force transfers and castoffs from laSd.
Tim Scott says
Hilarious.
So you people think that it would make a better cop to just pretend everyone was a sycophant like so many of you and not bother talking to someone who doesn’t like cops.
Ever heard of “customer feedback,” geniuses?
Mikey says
Tims customer feedback”i hate all cops”not so much, did you resign yet?
Good times says
Times Scott’s evidence of forced transfers LoL! Thanks for the chuckle. Tim Scott’s new cop friend is more likely to be a case of schizophrenia than him having any such evidence (frankly because none exists).
Shane Falco says
Well, Tim, I’m sure all those people in the street and watching were surely on some alternate work schedule that conveniently leaves them with deferred comp brawling time.
I also enjoy how you are all for street justice when it involves somebody engaging in a crime that, as you said “I have no great concern for this guy”. You have no issue with these witnesses not saying anything about it either.
However, if it a cop mishandles a lowly inmate or shoots some same criminal in the act of committing a crime, why it’s time for Tim to clutch his pearls and demand names, badges and wish death upon them!
Tim Scott says
Law enforcement personnel get a lot of benefits, as you have pointed out. Being immune to the law shouldn’t be one of them. Especially since being law enforcement personnel makes them effectively immune to street justice.
If a cop started a fight and got themselves killed every human being on the block would have had their world turned upside down by the blue thug gang “looking out for their own.”
Flinty says
The idea of cops starting fights is the problem. People that believe they go around picking fights with innocents are the reason the police, correctly in my view, have scaled back enforcement in bad neighborhoods. Residents that are law abiding need to know the police won’t abandon them and leave their block in the control of street gangs, but what else do the police do except not police those neighborhoods when they are questioned on why they made a stop or even why they are in the neighborhood to begin with. Liberal idiocy has spun the bizarre argument that high crime areas are a product of over policing and not crime. I guess that the rate of drug arrests, property crime, etc… Would be just as high in a low crime area if the police had a higher presence?
Flint . says
And of course you would never live in a place with so many minorities so close to you. White privilege Tim doesn’t have to worry about crime because he’d never actually live in an apartment on the east side.
Nacho Momma says
Wonder which one(s) already serving their life terms coughed up his name. Lil Ced has been a POS in this Valley for years. Bye Cedric!
Y says
He sure has! Been out there for years, barely ever in school. Looks like he kept it up
[removed] its Mee says
He WAS! A GANG MEMBER! HE WAS FROM ONE NACHO KILLA [removed] Cuhz! R.InKKk.piss [removed]