A movie further who admitted to fatally capturing Michael Latt, an leisure advertising advisor and social justice advocate, was sentenced Wednesday to 35 years to life in jail.
Jameelah Michl gunned down Latt inside his Los Angeles dwelling on Nov. 27.
Michl, 36, pleaded responsible to first-degree homicide and first-degree housebreaking throughout a listening to in Los Angeles Superior Courtroom final month. She additionally admitted to utilizing a firearm in the course of the assault, courtroom information present.
Prosecutors mentioned Michl didn’t know Latt however had focused him for being mates with a lady she was stalking. Michl was armed with a semiautomatic handgun when she knocked on the door of Latt’s dwelling within the 900 block of Alandele Avenue, pressured herself inside and shot him.
Latt, 33, was taken to a hospital, the place he died.
“Right now brings a measure of closure to a deeply painful chapter for Mr. Latt’s household, mates and our complete group,” Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón mentioned. “As a tireless advocate for social justice, Mr. Latt championed equality, justice and fairness in our felony authorized system. Mr. Latt’s skill to uplift the group left an indelible mark. His legacy will proceed to encourage us to try for a extra simply and inclusive society.”
Latt was the chief government of Lead With Love, an leisure advertising consulting agency he based in 2019 with an emphasis on elevating Black creatives and different underrepresented voices in Hollywood.
Authorities say Latt’s killing was the fruits of a collection of threats made by Michl, who had been stalking movie director A.V. Rockwell. Michl had labored as an additional on Rockwell’s movie “A Thousand and One” and had turn out to be obsessive about the director, in line with courtroom information.
At first, the makes an attempt at interplay appeared harmless. She despatched Rockwell a present field when the movie wrapped manufacturing in 2021. When the film received the grand jury prize on the Sundance Movie Pageant a yr later, Michl despatched an electronic mail to a producer on the movie saying she thought extremely of Rockwell and the movie.
However Michl’s admiration for the director took a darkish flip in emails despatched over the subsequent a number of months. When Rockwell didn’t reply, Michl emailed her saying she would kill herself and informed Rockwell she owned a gun.
The emails led Rockwell to request a restraining order in opposition to Michl in June 2023. Rockwell wrote in courtroom paperwork that “panic assaults brought on by the anxiousness and worry for my security has meant that I’ve been unable to return to work. Her messages have disrupted my skilled relationships.”
Rockwell and Latt attended Sundance in January 2023 and took photographs collectively. Latt posted one on Instagram with the caption, “Congratulations to @AVRockwell in your unimaginable characteristic movie directorial debut, A Thousand and One.”
Workers writers Noah Goldberg and Richard Winton contributed to this report.
