19-year-old man sentenced to life in prison for murder of taxi driver

A 19-year-old man who shot a Seattle taxicab driver in the head and then set the cab on fire last summer was sentenced to life in prison this morning by a King County Superior Court judge.

Earnest Lenell Collins, who broke down in tears after a jury found him guilty last month, railed angrily about his lawyer and the justice system before he was sentenced today. Friends of the victim, Jagjit Singh, said later that they felt justice had been done in the case.

"We're satisfied. [Collins] does not deserve to live in society," said Sarvjeet Singh, a friend and colleague of the victim.

Collins was convicted of aggravated first-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence in Washington state. During his trial, he maintained that he was not the man jurors saw on a video from the taxi's surveillance camera putting a gun to Singh's head.

Collins called Farwest Taxi around 2:40 a.m. on July 10 and requested a cab. Later that morning, a witness saw Jagjit Singh's taxi ablaze in front of Collins' SeaTac home and called 911. When fire and police officials made it to the car, near South 177th Street and 38th Avenue South, they found Singh, 43, dead inside.

Acquaintances identified Collins' voice on the recorded taxi dispatch call and his face from the surveillance video.

Friends of Singh's said this morning that it was the camera, which not all taxis carry, that led to the crime being solved. They said there is heightened awareness within the cabdriver community, which has suffered a handful of slayings over the past few years.

The most recent was Thursday, when Seattle cabdriver Franzdag Eltahir was shot during a robbery attempt in Puyallup. The Tacoma Yellow Cab driver was expected to have a difficult recovery, doctors said yesterday.

"We are all afraid," said Sarvjeet Singh. "We're all in this work, and we don't understand why people do this kind of crime."

Natalie Singer: 206-464-2704 or nsinger@seattletimes.com