Santa Monica : Accused Won’t Face Death
Shasta County officials will not seek the death penalty in the murder trial of Stanley Alan Hershey, 48, a former Santa Monica teacher accused of killing a retired Glendale accountant, Assistant Dist. Atty. James Ruggiero said this week.
Instead, prosecutors will seek a penalty of life in prison without possibility of parole if Hershey is convicted of killing Gordon T. Johnson, 62, who disappeared Oct. 15, 1989, while traveling from Oregon to Southern California.
Ruggiero said the decision was made after prosecutors reviewed the circumstances and evidence in the case, but he declined to discuss details. Although police theorize that Johnson was murdered at Shasta Lake, his body has never been found.
Hershey is serving a 20-year federal sentence for stealing Johnson’s motor home and life savings. The murder trial is scheduled for April 27, 1993, in Shasta County.
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