Man Pleads Guilty to 2nd-Degree Murder
A 30-year-old Los Angeles man pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder for strangling a Canoga Park woman during a burglary last year.
Nicholas L. Mecca was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison for killing Barbara Shanks, 46, on April 17, 1989. Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Alan B. Haber sentenced Mecca to an additional four years in prison for burglarizing Shanks’ house.
Mecca originally was charged with first-degree murder but pleaded guilty before his trial to the reduced charge, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Ann Korban.
Mecca came to Shanks’ house in the 6500 block of Comanche Avenue early on the morning of April 17 seeking Shanks’ daughter, a friend. The daughter was not home at the time, said Detective Michael Lewin.
Mecca apparently became angry with Shanks and strangled her, then beat her on the head with several wine bottles, Korban said. The home was ransacked, but it was not known what, if anything, was taken, she said.
Mecca was arrested later after he told several people about the killing, Korban said.
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