SANTA MONICA : Youth Gets Life in Prison for Zuma Beach Killing
A Santa Monica Superior Court Judge on Monday sentenced a New Mexico youth to life in prison without possibility of parole for murdering a Northridge woman at Zuma Beach in 1991.
Judge David Perez found Guillermo Bustos, 18, guilty of murder, robbery and two special circumstances in the death of Jacqueline Kirkham, 43, who was stabbed to death in a restroom. Bustos wanted her car so he and two other youths could return to Pojoaque, N.M., where they were arrested.
Because he was only 16 at the time of the murder, Bustos was ineligible for the death penalty.
A co-defendant, Michael Loretto, 18, was found guilty of murder and robbery and is to be sentenced today by Perez.
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