Local News in Brief : Encino Man Sent to Prison for Fatal Shooting of Parents

A 39-year-old Encino roofer who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for fatally shooting his parents was sentenced Wednesday to 52 years in prison.

Timothy David Hudkins entered the guilty plea March 11 to avoid a trial that could have resulted in the death penalty or life in prison without possibility of parole, said his attorney, Rick Gregory.

Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Melvin B. Grover sentenced Hudkins to 25 years for each murder, plus two more years because a gun was used. Hudkins will be eligible for parole in 26 years.

Hudkins was arrested in San Luis Obispo County by sheriff’s deputies on July 20, 1983, after the bodies of Doris Lynam Hudkins, 64, and Richard Ace Hudkins, 57, were found in separate closets of their Sepulveda home. Each had been shot in the head and chest with a .38-caliber handgun in a dispute over money and the custody of Timothy Hudkins’ 13-year-old son, investigators said.

According to a county Probation Department report released Wednesday, Hudkins previously had been convicted of kidnaping, theft and forgery.

Hudkins’ girlfriend, Christine Penamante, the registered owner of the murder weapon, has pleaded guilty to being an accessory to murder and will be sentenced June 12, Deputy Dist. Atty. Burt Schneirow said.