The Region - News from July 1, 1985

A 22-year-old hardware store employee was sentenced to life in prison without parole for hiring a teen-age hit man to kill his lover’s husband in the victim’s Rancho Palos Verdes home. George Lucev, sentenced by Superior Court Judge Edward Hinz, was convicted in April of first-degree murder with special circumstances, including murder for financial gain. Prosecutor Ray Saukkola said Donna Jelenic, 39, conspired with Lucev in paying Michael Pena, then 17, $5,000 to stab to death her husband, Vladimar Walter Jelenic, 44, in January, 1983. Donna Jelenic was also sentenced to life in prison without parole on a first-degree murder conviction. Pena pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.