LANCASTER : Slaying Suspect May Face Death Penalty
An escaped convict was charged Thursday with murder under special circumstances and three other felony counts stemming from the March 5 fatal shooting of a customer at an automated teller machine.
Christopher A. Mann, 19, of Palmdale could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole if convicted on the charge of murder during a robbery, prosecutors said. Mann also was charged in Antelope Municipal Court with robbery, grand theft auto and joy riding.
Mann has said the shooting of Hans Christian Herzog, 46, of Lancaster was an accident that occurred during a robbery, homicide investigators said. The slaying occurred outside the Bank of America branch in downtown Lancaster.
A week before the shooting, Mann had escaped from a Van Nuys halfway house where he was serving the remainder of a state prison sentence for joy riding.
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