Man who shot his wife and sister in alleged ‘mercy killings’ sentenced to 100 years to life
A judge said that just before Lance Anderson pulled the trigger and executed his sister at a North Hills convalescent home in 2013, he told her he was “sending her home” and a single tear drop rolled down her cheek.
After firing, he put the gun down and waited to be arrested. Hours earlier, police would learn, he’d also executed his wife, 68-year-old Maxine Anderson, in her bed while she slept.
Anderson’s defense attorney labeled the deaths “mercy killings,” and described his client as a man who was “simply overcome” with the circumstances of caring for his ailing wife and sister, Lisa Nave, 58.
But at Anderson’s sentencing Wednesday in San Fernando, Judge Hayden Zacky said there was nothing merciful about his actions on Dec. 11, 2013, and sentenced him to 100 years to life in prison.
“We don’t know why she shed that tear,” Zacky said of Nave’s death. “Was it because she was ready to die and grateful for what Mr. Anderson was about to do? Or was it because she was scared and did not want to die and wanted to be with her family? That’s [an answer] we’ll never know.”
Either way, the killings splintered the Canyon Country family.
“This man has destroyed every aspect of my life. Every day that he has spent in a cell, I’ve spent in a cell in my own mind,” said Maxine Anderson’s son, Jason King, who was serving with the military overseas when his mother was killed. “Two bullets took away everything that was important to me.”
According to prosecutors and neighbors, Anderson had begun preparing a funeral for his wife weeks before he shot her and had recently given away their Christmas tree, saying they wouldn’t be celebrating that year. Authorities said Maxine Anderson had a couple of close friends and a driver’s license and though she was on medication was not at all terminally ill as Anderson had portrayed her to neighbors.
He wasn’t merciful, he was domineering, Deputy Dist. Atty. Julie Kramer said. In a statement, the District Attorney’s office said that Anderson “tried to control both women and in an ultimate form of control, killed them both.”
When his relatives argued to the judge that Anderson deserved the maximum sentence Wednesday, the 63-year-old occasionally wiped tears from his eyes and sniffed. He declined to speak to the court but had his attorney, Lawrence Forbes, read a statement on his behalf.
“All I can add at this time is the fact that no words can explain or fully express the range and depth of the heartfelt sorrow, regret and remorse I truly feel for the pain I’ve caused my family. I hope someday that I can be forgiven.”
The judge ruled that Anderson, who has suffered a stroke and heart attack in jail and requires the aid of a walker, will serve out his sentence in a prison medical facility in Northern California.
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