Camden man pleads guilty in rival gang member's killing

By Darran Simon, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: November 05, 2011

A Camden man has pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter in connection with the torture killing last year of a 23-year-old rival gang member in Camden.

Lance Fulton, 21, entered the guilty plea Thursday in Superior Court in Camden County, the county Prosecutor's Office said. Fulton admitted kicking and punching Michael Hawkins during the Feb. 21, 2010, assault in a house on the 500 block of Berkley Street.

Fulton also admitted holding Hawkins down while others assaulted him. According to authorities, Fulton said the group believed Hawkins, of Mount Holly, had stolen liquor from the home of another defendant in the case.

Hawkins was shot and stabbed upstairs in the rowhouse.

Ten people have been charged in the deaths of Hawkins and his girlfriend, Muriah Huff, 18, of Cinnaminson, a high school senior who was beaten, choked, and stabbed.

Huff, who was downstairs in the rowhouse when Hawkins was beaten, was killed because she could have given authorities information about the killing, defendants said.

The 10 suspects were members of the Lueders Park Piru Bloods, a loosely organized group named after the Los Angeles street gang. Hawkins was a member of a Crips street gang.

Six people have pleaded guilty; five have been sentenced. Fulton, who was not charged in Huff's death, is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 9 to 25 years in prison.

Contact staff writer Darran Simon at 856-779-3829 or dsimon@phillynews.com or @darransimon on Twitter.

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