Woman, 25, Sentenced to 17 Years for Beating Death of Man, 65

COMPTON, CA - A woman who beat a 65-year-old man to death at a Metro Blue Line station in 2014 was sentenced today to 17 years in prison.

Tracy Joy Gomez, 25, was convicted last September of voluntary manslaughter for the June 13, 2014, attack on John Whitmore.

Gomez had been charged with murder, but jurors chose to convict her of the lesser crime.

Whitmore was waiting for a train when an argument broke out, and he collapsed to the ground after being punched and kicked.

The victim, a painter and sculptor, suffered blunt force trauma to the head and was declared dead a week later at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood.

Virginia Marie Butler, 25, was also arrested and charged in the beating death after investigators released surveillance video from the scene. However, jurors acquitted Butler of second-degree murder and manslaughter.

Gomez has a prior 2009 conviction for second-degree robbery, according to the District Attorney's Office.

--City News Service, photo via Shutterstock