Kerman pot robbery getaway driver found guilty of murder

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The getaway driver in a pot robbery was found guilty Tuesday. Her attorney said it all resulted from "crazy" actions that killed a Kerman High School secretary and her husband.

Dawn Singh never really put up a fight. The 41-year-old getaway driver in a 2009 pot robbery she helped to plan couldn't really dispute the facts that got her convicted in the murders of Gary and Sandra DeBartolo.

California's felony murder law says if you take part in a potentially violent felony crime and someone's killed, you're guilty of murder. Singh's attorney, Eric Green, calls it the worst law in the state.

"It does not take into account some nut like Leroy Johnson going crazy inside the house of the DeBartolos."

Investigators said Johnson is the actual killer-- one of two people who went into the Kerman home.

Singh's attorney said she may have planned to steal pot and money from the mild-mannered couple, but she had no idea of Johnson's real intent.

"Five to seven minutes inside the house, he's cutting their throats-- not to steal anything, although at the last minute I guess he picked up a wallet, according to the evidence, just because he wanted to kill them," said Green.

Singh didn't testify in her own murder trial and she won't testify against Johnson. Two of the other six people arrested in the case will.

Prosecutors offered Singh a deal before trial that would have sent her to prison for 25 years, but she turned it down.

"She wanted less time. I explained to her about the felony murder rule and the pitfalls of that, but she decided she wanted to go forward with that. I don't have any control over that. I'm sure right now she wishes she'd taken the 25 years," said Green.

Singh will be sentenced next month, but the punishment is already determined. She'll get life in prison with no chance at parole.

Johnson will stand trial next year.