Jurors mull sentencing of getaway driver

Thursday, Feb. 25, 1999 | 11:37 a.m.

A District Court jury resumed deliberations today over the sentence for a 20-year-old man it convicted Wednesday of murder charges for being the getaway driver in a bar holdup that resulted in the deaths of two people.

The choice for the jury is whether Artis Moore will receive a mandatory life prison sentence with or without the possibility of parole after 20 years. Moore also faces sentences on a variety of other counts, and District Judge John McGroarty could tack on prison time or order that the sentences all run concurrently.

The jury deliberated fewer than three hours over two days before convicting Moore of all counts for his role in the May 1998 holdup at O'Aces Bar & Grill on Rainbow Boulevard.

Moore had testified that he was asleep in the back seat of the getaway car when the robbery occurred.

Salvatore Zendano, the 25-year-old bartender, and 18-year-old Lashawn Levi, one of the alleged robbers, were killed as they struggled.

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