Second defendant admits guilt in retired officer’s killing

A second defendant charged in the 2023 killing of a retired police officer pleaded guilty on Tuesday.

Prosecutors have alleged that Jzamir Keys, 18, and co-defendant Jesus Ayala, 20, deliberately struck 66-year-old Andreas Probst with a vehicle, resulting in the man’s death. Probst was riding his bicycle near Centennial Parkway at the time of the Aug. 14, 2023, hit-and-run crash.

Authorities have said that Keys, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, recorded a video of the men, who were teens at the time, laughing and plotting to hit Probst, who was a retired police chief from Bell, California.

Keys also pleaded to battery with a deadly weapon, admitting that he struck two other men during the “crime spree” that the police said the two teens went on. As a part of the agreement, District Judge Jaqueline Bluth said that she would sentence Keys to 18 years to life in prison.

Bluth noted that Keys’ plea deal was dependent on that of Ayala’s and that, a week earlier, Ayala also pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, which carries a prison sentence of 20 years to life.

Keys told the judge that his highest level of education was 11th grade, and that he understood his charges and plea agreement.

The victim’s wife, Crystal Probst, sat in the back of the gallery during Keys’ plea hearing.

Probst, who declined to talk with reporters, hugged Chief Deputy District Attorney John Giordani, the prosecutor on the case, in the hall outside the courtroom afterward.

Keys and Ayala are scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 16.

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.