Gang member convicted in murder of father of 9 in Riverside park

A gang member from Riverside has been convicted of a 2020 murder that took place in a park, a report says.

Citing Superior Court records, The Press-Enterprise reported that Arthur Lawrence Akins III was convicted Friday of murder and sentencing enhancements for committing a crime to benefit a gang, being a member of a gang and discharging a gun causing great bodily injury.

Akins, who was convicted on his 53rd birthday, shot and killed Cedric Omarr Dempsey , a father of nine, behind Bordwell Park in the 200 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard on Dec. 22, 2020.

Akins was arrested on May 21, 2022, nearly a year and a half after the killing.

Akins is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 9 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.

He is currently being held without bail at the Robert Presley Detention Center, according to jail records.

Akins is not the only person associated with this murder, nor is this the only murder Akins is accused of committing in recent years.

Akins was also charged in the June 2020 murder of Kevin Henderson, a 43-year-old from Moreno Valley , though Henderson’s killing was consolidated into the trial that led to this conviction.

“The status of the charges in the Moreno Valley case was unclear Friday,” The Press-Enterprise reported.

Darnell Fredrick Tate, a 34-year-old from Moreno Valley, is also accused in both killings. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail ahead of his Aug. 9 trial.

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