Gardena man gets 56 years to life in prison for the bludgeoning death of uncle-in-law
A Gardena man was sentenced to 56 years to life in prison on Monday for the 2015 murder of a relative in La Crescenta.
In May, a jury found 47-year-old David Xavier Bushman guilty of the first-degree murder of his uncle-in-law Arthur Palmer. The jury also found an allegation of a personal use of a deadly weapon, in this case a mallet, to be true.
Palmer was found dead in his home on July 24, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. A concerned neighbor had called the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station after he had not seen or heard from Palmer after some time.
According to the coroner’s office, Palmer’s body had “multiple blunt-force traumatic injuries.”
Investigators recovered a mallet next to Palmer, which had traces of Bushman’s DNA.
Evidence presented during Bushman’s trial showed he was expected to inherit money from Palmer, according to the district attorney’s office.
Twitter: @Andy_Truc
