RESEDA : Woman, Son Are Acquitted in Slaying
A Reseda woman and her son were acquitted Thursday by a Van Nuys Superior Court jury of charges that they arranged the shotgun slaying of the woman’s husband.
Florence Gandy, 48, and her son, Jesse Arlaus, 21, were released from custody after having been jailed since their arrest in October for the slaying of Randell Hale Gandy, 31.
Deputy Dist. Atty. James Baker conceded that the case was weak against the two because it lacked independent evidence other than the testimony of a 14-year-old boy who told police that the woman hired him to kill her husband for $180.
The boy pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, and is being held in a California Youth Authority facility.
Gandy’s body was found shot twice and burned in a flood-control channel along the Ventura Freeway in Tarzana on Sept. 20.
Baker said another son of Florence Gandy, Bennie Bedford, is being held on charges that he was involved in the killing.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
