A homeless woman was sentenced Wednesday to 35 years to life in prison for the fatal shooting of a film marketing consultant who worked on social justice campaigns with well-known figures in Hollywood.
Jameelah Elena Michl, 36, pleaded guilty June 24 to one count each of first-degree murder and first-degree residential burglary in connection with Michael Latt’s killing at his home in the Miracle Mile area of Los Angeles.
Michl — who police said lived in her car — was arrested at the scene of the shooting, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Latt, the 33-year-old founder and CEO of Lead With Love, worked with filmmaker Ryan Coogler and musician/actor Common on various campaigns. He was shot at his home in the 900 block of Alandele Avenue and died after being taken to a hospital.
When Michl was charged last November, prosecutors said she targeted Latt “for being friends with a woman she had been stalking.”
Michl knocked on the door of Latt’s home, forced her way inside when the door was opened and then shot Latt with a semi-automatic handgun, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
After Latt’s death, Michelle Satter, Latt’s mother and the founding senior director of artists programs at the Sundance Institute, posted on social media that her son had “devoted his career to supporting artists, championing organizations that raised up artists of color, and leveraged storytelling for enduring change.”
Others posted on social media about Latt and his contributions to social justice and humanitarian campaigns.
“I cannot even begin to express what we’ve lost with Michael Latt’s murder,” Franklin Leonard, the founder of Black List, posted on social media. “He was the absolute best of us. Rest in Power, my friend.”
Latt, a graduate of Chapman University, worked on marketing campaigns for “Fruitvale Station,” Coogler’s 2013 film about the killing of Oscar Grant by police in Oakland. Latt said in a 2019 Forbes profile that it was a turning point in his career.
“Working on Ryan Coogler’s `Fruitvale Station’ opened my eyes up to how prevalent and insidious white supremacy is in our country and also showed me the potent power of storytelling to change hearts and minds,” he said.
Latt worked on marketing campaigns for “The Birth of a Nation,” “If Beale Street Could Talk,” “I Am Not Your Negro” and “Crazy Rich Asians.”
He also worked with Ava DuVernay, Barry Jenkins, Warner Bros. and Netflix on events and political initiatives.
In addition, he worked for Imagine Justice, a nonprofit founded by Common, which advocates for prison reform.
Latt served as a communications consultant for DuVernay’s ARRAY Now, and was marketing director for Blackout for Human Rights, a network of entertainment professionals founded by Coogler to speak out against killings by police.