Killer of His Grandmother Gets 12 Years

A 20-year-old Burbank man who pleaded guilty to killing his 65-year-old grandmother during a fight over the keys to her truck was sentenced to 12 years in state prison Tuesday.

Michael Francis Newberry, who family members said was Elvera Ferraris’ favorite grandchild, surrendered to police a week after the Feb. 29 stabbing death of Ferraris at her Sun Valley home.

Although he was initially charged with murder, in a plea bargain with prosecutors Newberry pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. He received the maximum sentence for that offense from San Fernando Superior Court Judge Howard J. Schwab.

According to Deputy Dist. Atty. Candace Foy-Smith, Newberry had come home under the influence of cocaine and asked Ferraris if she would give him the keys to her truck. When she refused, Newberry became angry and began attacking the woman. After she threw some coffee at him, he knocked her to the floor, stomped on her chest, kicked her in the head and then stabbed her with a 15-inch butcher knife twice in the chest, Foy-Smith said.

Newberry fled to San Diego in his grandmother’s truck, according to a probation report. On March 6, Newberry called San Diego police and said he wanted to surrender because he had killed his grandmother, according to court documents.

A plea bargain was agreed upon because it appeared that the crime had been committed in the heat of passion, which is the standard for voluntary manslaughter, Foy-Smith said. Also, because Newberry was under the influence of cocaine at the time of the attack, it would be more difficult for prosecutors to prove he intended to kill Ferraris, Foy-Smith said.

Newberry’s mother told a probation officer that her son had a 5-year history of drug and alcohol abuse. Newberry, a sometime construction worker, admits to having a $200 weekly habit, according to the probation report. He told a probation officer that upon his release from prison he hopes to attend Bible college.

“The defendant states he feels terrible about what has occurred and states he is ‘the biggest loser in the world,’ ” the report said. “He said he is not a violent person and does not know how it happened. He states he was pretty high and all of his problems are drug-related.”