Man sentenced to 40 years overall in Memphis officer killing

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A man who fatally shot Memphis' first female police officer killed in the line of duty was sentenced Tuesday to a total of 40 years in prison on an array of charges.

Twenty-five-year-old Treveno Campbell was sentenced to 25 years for his second-degree murder conviction in the December 2012 shooting death of Officer Martoiya Lang, a 32-year-old mother of four. Lang was shot as she and five other officers broke into Campbell's rental home trying to serve a drug warrant on a person who wasn't actually there.

Campbell also was sentenced by Shelby County Criminal Court Judge James Beasley to another eight years for attempted second-degree murder, six additional years for using a firearm while committing a felony and one more year on a marijuana count.

Beasley ordered the sentences to be served consecutively.

Sentences for another attempted second-degree murder count, plus reckless endangerment and additional weapons and drug charges, will run at the same time as the 40-year prison term, Beasley ruled.

Campbell apologized to the Lang family in court.

"I didn't mean for none of this to go on," Campbell said. "I ain't no bad person. This is a nightmare for me too."

Campbell was convicted Jan. 31 after a trial in which his attorney cast scrutiny on the tactics used by officers who raided the man's home.

Defense attorneys argued that Campbell was startled awake by people crashing through the front door and he fired wildly out of fear, thinking he was facing a home invasion. He testified at trial that he didn't know he was shooting at police officers.

"A whole lot of racket," he testified at trial. "I was scared to death."

But Beasley said Campbell - who did not have a criminal record before the shooting - should serve an extended time in prison because he was selling drugs and possessing a loaded gun to protect himself, his drugs and his money. He said the officers were just doing their job protecting the community.

Officers testified they repeatedly yelled "police search warrant" after Lang and her fellow Organized Crime Unit officers smashed through the door with a battering ram.

"Mr. Campbell just randomly starts shooting his gun," Beasley said before delivering the sentence. "Mr. Campbell had ample opportunity ... to make decisions."

The group, known as Team 6, was looking for another person, a suspected cocaine dealer. The group had safely served more than 200 warrants in 2012 before the deadly raid, according to trial testimony. Evidence showed Campbell wasn't mentioned in the warrant and officers never found the suspect nor any cocaine.

Authorities said they did find cash, a scale for weighing drugs, and a large amount of marijuana.

Campbell fired 11 shots. Lang was shot in the left shoulder while standing in the doorway of Campbell's bedroom. She was pulled from the house by a fellow officer before she died.

Another officer, William Vrooman, was shot in the leg. He survived.

Vrooman and Lang's relatives testified during the sentencing hearing that they have suffered with pain and loss. Lang's mother, Vivian Woods-Taylor, said her daughter loved her job and had a "zest for life."

"You will always be a murderer and a cop killer," Woods-Taylor said to Campbell from the witness stand.

Campbell's relatives and friends, meanwhile, portrayed him as a smart, hard-working, humble person who isn't a killer.

"The picture that they're painting of Treveno is totally wrong," his mother, Trina Campbell, testified.

At trial, defense attorney William Massey questioned the officers' tactics. He pressed officers to explain why Lang didn't have a colleague right beside her when she was shot; Vrooman testified he had just cleared the kitchen but was shot before reaching her.

Campbell said he had his hands up when he was shot three times. But Sgt. Darryl Dotson testified that Campbell was pointing a gun at him when he shot Campbell.

Retired former Officer Timothy Goodwin, a Team 6 member at the time of the raid, exercised his Fifth Amendment rights to not testify during trial. Goodwin and another officer were relieved of duty during a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation into inconsistent statements made about the shooting.

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