Local News in Brief : Man Sentenced in Deaths
A man was sentenced Friday to 18 years to life in state prison for murdering two college students kidnaped during a 1985 auto theft in Westwood, then shot to death to cover up the crime.
Under a plea bargain with prosecutors, Donald Bennett, who had been charged with first-degree murder, pleaded guilty last month in Santa Monica Superior Court to two lesser counts of second-degree murder.
Bennett, 23, one of three men charged in the case, also pleaded guilty to an arson count for burning one of the victims’ cars to destroy evidence of the slayings.
Bennett, of South Los Angeles, was sentenced by Judge Leslie Light for the murders of UCLA freshman Michelle Ann Boyd, 19, and her boyfriend, Cal State Northridge student Brian Harris, 20. Boyd and Harris were driven to a secluded field off Mulholland Drive where they were shot to death.
Stanley Bernard Davis, 26, the alleged trigger man, and Damon Layte Redmond, 22, face trial on charges of murder, robbery and auto theft. They are scheduled to appear for trial setting April 15.
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