Two plead no contest to voluntary manslaughter in U.S. Marine’s death

NORWALK, Calif. (KESQ) - Two men who are cousins pleaded no contest today to voluntary manslaughter in connection with the death of a U.S. Marine who was beaten and left on a Bellflower street, where he was subsequently struck by a passing vehicle nearly two years ago.

Damari Kensey, 22, of Long Beach, and Jaymel Williams, 29, of Inglewood, were each immediately sentenced to 11 years in state prison, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.  

The two had been charged last year with murder involving the May 28, 2024 death of Peter Chounthala.  

Chounthala was leaving a bar in Bellflower shortly before 2 a.m. that day when the two followed him outside and beat him in an attack that left him lying in the middle of Artesia Boulevard, in active lanes of traffic, where he was subsequently struck by a vehicle soon afterward, according to the District Attorney's Office.   

That driver did not stop and has not been identified, authorities said last year.  

Sheriff's officials said the car that struck him was a dark-colored, four-door 2021-23 Kia K5 sedan.

Chounthala -- who was described as an active-duty Marine and a married father of a 3-year-old son -- died at the scene.   

The 42-year-old man's cause of death was listed as blunt traumatic injuries, according to records from the county medical examiner's office.   

"This brutal and senseless act took the life of a husband, father and Marine who served our country with honor, including tours in Afghanistan and multiple Marine expeditionary units,'' District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement last June announcing the criminal case against the two defendants. "We will not tolerate this violence in our communities."