Son, 20, Convicted of Mother’s 1983 Slaying

A 20-year-old Van Nuys man was found guilty Thursday of bludgeoning and stabbing his mother to death in March, 1983.

Several jurors in the Van Nuys Superior Court trial cried outside the courtroom after convicting Bruce Lisker, who was 17 at the time of the killing, of second-degree murder.

“He just didn’t strike us as a hardened criminal,” one juror said. “But the evidence was convincing.”

Lisker could receive a maximum of 16 years to life in state prison when he is sentenced by Judge Richard G. Kolostian on Jan. 7.

Lisker told police that he found his 66-year-old mother, Dorka, dead inside her Sherman Oaks home on March 10, 1983. However, police said inconsistencies in his statements to investigators led to his arrest.

A man who had been in the cell next to Lisker’s in County Jail testified during the three-week trial that Lisker confessed to having killed his mother after she refused to give him money to support his drug habit.

In a plea-bargain agreement that was not disclosed to jurors until after the verdict, Lisker had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in December. He withdrew his plea and opted to go to trial, however, when Kolostian rejected a defense request that Lisker, instead of being sentenced to state prison, be put in the custody of the California Youth Authority, which by law would have to release him at the age of 25.