SAN FERNANDO VALLEY : Killer Sentenced for Screwdriver Attack

A 19-year-old Panorama City man was sentenced Tuesday in Van Nuys Superior Court to 29 years to life in prison for killing a man in January by stabbing him in the eye with a screwdriver.

Michael Story was convicted last month of first-degree murder, two counts of assault and a single count of attempted robbery in connection with what prosecutors called unprovoked, racially motivated attacks on three Latino men.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Shellie Samuels said Story first attempted to steal a chain from a man waiting at a bus stop near the corner of Van Nuys Boulevard and Nordhoff Street in Panorama City. He missed grabbing the chain and then stabbed the man in the chest with a screwdriver.

Story, a known gang member, then attacked two other men who were crossing Van Nuys Boulevard to go to a movie theater. Samuels said Story stabbed one of the men on top of the head and then in the eye. She said the screwdriver entered about two inches into the man’s brain.

While the man lay dying on the sidewalk, Story then attempted to stab the other man.