Freeway Shooting Costs Sylmar Man 7 Years in Prison

A Sylmar man convicted of shooting at a car on the Golden State Freeway was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in prison, just four months short of the maximum term.

Lewis L. Meeks, 33, was sentenced for shooting at Carol Ann Fayne, 45, and Michael Fabian Smith, 36, both of Northridge, on July 20. Meeks was convicted Feb. 19 of two counts of assault with a firearm and one count of shooting at an occupied vehicle.

San Fernando Superior Court Judge Joyce L. Kennard said that, although Fayne and Smith were uninjured, she imposed the heavy sentence because the crime represented a threat to public safety.

Days of Lawlessness

“We are all aware of the thousands of commuters who drive the freeways every day. . .and we know all too well the frustration that can be experienced from an inconsiderate driver,” Kennard said. “But such conduct does not justify shooting. To tolerate such behavior would recall the days of lawlessness when it was the outlaw and his gun, not the law, that ruled.”

Kennard’s rationale echoed that of Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, who vowed at the height of the roadway violence last summer to stamp out the “cowboy mentality” fueling such crimes by prosecuting defendants vigorously. There were more than 30 incidents of violence on Southern California roads last summer.

Meeks, a carpenter, was originally charged with two counts of attempted murder in addition to the assault counts and shooting at an occupied vehicle. But a San Fernando Superior Court jury found insufficient evidence to demonstrate that Meeks intended to kill Fayne and Smith, jurors said after the three-week trial.

Fayne and Smith testified during the trial that they were returning from a movie at Universal City shortly after midnight when a pickup truck began tailgating their car on the Hollywood Freeway south of Roscoe Boulevard.

As the two vehicles traveled side by side, Fayne said, Smith traded obscenities with the pickup driver, who fired three shots as the vehicles continued north on the Golden State Freeway. Police later found a bullet hole in the car.

Fayne said she chased the truck to Sylmar and reported the license to police, who used it to trace and arrest Meeks.

Meeks testified that he shot at the couple’s car to scare them away after Smith threw beer cans at him, yelled obscenities and swung at his truck with a tire iron, ripping off the mirror on the driver’s side. He said Tuesday he plans to appeal the conviction.

In the only other freeway violence case completed so far, Margarito C. Levya, 27, was sentenced to six months in County Jail for firing a gun near a California Highway Patrol officer on Sierra Highway on Aug. 22. A San Fernando Superior Court jury found Levya guilty of possession of a firearm in a vehicle and possession of a concealed weapon but acquitted him of attempted murder.

In Orange County, Albert Carroll Morgan, 33, of Santa Ana awaits sentencing after being convicted of attempted voluntary manslaughter for shooting a Rolling Hills Estates man July 18 on the Costa Mesa Freeway, paralyzing him. Morgan faces a maximum term of 5 1/2 years in prison.