Man Re-Sentenced For 2008 Attempted Hold-Up In Beverly Hills

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – One of two men was re-sentenced Wednesday to 44 years to life in state prison after he was convicted of an attempted hold-up at a Beverly Hills restaurant nearly a decade ago.

A three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal had ordered the case against Floyd Nelson to be sent back to Superior Court Judge Stephen Marcus for re-sentencing, finding in an Aug. 29 ruling that Nelson's initial sentence of 50 years to life was improperly enhanced with two prior conviction allegations that were added after the Los Angeles jury that heard the case against him had already been discharged.

Nelson was convicted of one count each of attempted robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm in connection with the early morning attempted hold-up at Lawry's The Prime Rib restaurant at 100 N. La Cienega Blvd. on July 11, 2008.

Nelson and co-defendant Alonzo Harris, who had been under surveillance, were followed by Los Angeles police from the attempted robbery, and Nelson was shot by undercover officers minutes after a chef at Lawry's was approached at gunpoint and unsuccessfully ordered to open the safe.

Harris – who has a string of convictions dating back more than three decades – was found guilty of more than three-dozen counts, including robbery, attempted robbery, false imprisonment and possession of a firearm by a felon, in connection with a series of robberies that targeted businesses in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley between October 2007 and July 2008.

He was sentenced in July 2014 to 620 years to life in state prison, with Marcus saying then that Harris' "entire life has been killed with crime."

The judge noted that the series of robberies and attempted robberies for which Harris was convicted typically occurred at businesses in the middle of the night or early morning and "terrorized" dozens of employees.

In its 42-page ruling, the appellate court panel noted that the prosecution theorized that Harris committed robberies between October and December 2007 with a man who was shot and killed by Los Angeles police officers the following month and that he carried out a few robberies by himself and one with an unidentified accomplice before being joined by Nelson for the last robbery attempt at Lawry's, which resulted in their arrests.

City News Service and Patch staffer Emily Holland contributed to this post; Image via Shutterstock