SIMI VALLEY : Inmate Sentenced in Death of Transient

A Folsom Prison inmate was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life for the “thrill-kill” stabbing of a transient in Simi Valley six years ago.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles R. McGrath imposed the sentence after denying John Robert Kilroy’s request for a new trial.

Kilroy, 23, was found guilty in August of conspiracy and first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of Derek VanDusen, 33, a transient. The victim was stabbed 36 times in a bedroom of a house where Kilroy and two friends had gone to smoke marijuana, according to trial testimony. Investigators said the three friends--all teen-agers at the time--had killed the passed-out transient to see how it felt to take a life.

Todd Jones, who was offered immunity from prosecution, testified that Kilroy struck the first blow. The other friend, David Dunlap, was convicted of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 16 years to life.

Kilroy’s sentencing had been scheduled for Oct. 23, but it was postponed when new evidence was presented to support his request for a new trial.

As part of the retrial motion, Kilroy’s sister, Michelle Broaderick, testified that her brother had been staying with her in Palmdale at the time of the slaying, which occurred on Jan. 25, 1986. Other Kilroy family members testified Friday that John Kilroy was not in Ventura County when the murder was committed.

McGrath, who convicted Kilroy at a non-jury trial, acknowledged that some of the evidence was new. But the judge said he still “wouldn’t have a doubt of Mr. Kilroy’s guilt.”

Kilroy is serving an 18-year sentence in Folsom State Prison for attempted murder after trading shots in 1991 with a Simi Valley resident during an alleged burglary.

McGrath ordered the new sentence to be served after Kilroy completes the 18-year term. Defense attorney James M. Farley said the consecutive sentences mean that Kilroy will have to serve at least 27 years before he can be considered for parole.