Young Man’s Life Sentence Upheld in Death of Girl, 14

A state appellate court has upheld a prison term of 25 years to life for a young man convicted of killing a 14-year-old girl and then displaying the body to classmates.

Anthony Broussard, 20, pleaded guilty to murder in the course of rape or attempted rape and was sentenced in December, 1982, for the strangling death of Marcy Conrad, a fellow student at Milpitas High School.

Broussard, 16 at the time of the killing in November, 1981, reportedly took several classmates to a ravine where he showed them the girl’s partially nude body after killing her.

Broussard, who was charged as an adult, will be eligible for parole in 16 years and eight months.

He did not challenge his conviction, but his attorneys contended that the wrong standards had been used in sending him to the adult prison system. They argued that he should have been sent to the California Youth Authority, where the maximum sentence was shorter.

The appellate court, in an opinion by Presiding Justice J. Anthony Kline, said there was evidence of psychological problems and a “tendency toward criminality” that could not be treated effectively during a Youth Authority sentence.

Kline also said Broussard pleaded guilty with “full awareness” that he would not be eligible for parole for many years and might never be released.

Kline said a life sentence is not excessive punishment for a rape-murder. He also quoted a psychiatrist and a probation officer as saying that Broussard expressed no remorse.