Prostitute Gets Life in Prison for Slaying : Courts: Kurt Karcher apologizes to the family of lawyer he strangled in 1992. The victim’s wife, daughter urge harshest sentence.

A male prostitute was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, despite his claims that he beat and strangled an attorney in self-defense after he was nearly raped during a paid sexual encounter.

Kurt Karcher, 25, of Cypress, apologized to the family of attorney Seymour Pizer, 61, who was killed April 4, 1992, and then stuffed in a Dana Point trash bin. But Karcher said his trial was “one-sided” and complained that he was unable to present critical evidence in his own defense.

“I’m sorry for what happened, but I know no one is going to believe it,” said Karcher, who was arrested after trying to use Pizer’s credit card to pay for a hotel room.

Karcher’s comments came after a lengthy hearing at which his wife and daughter spoke about their grief and pleaded with the judge to hand down the toughest possible sentence.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Jean Rheinheimer complied, ordering Karcher to spend the rest of his life in prison for what she described as an “outrageous, heinous crime.”

“I really think that justice has been served here. This man should never ever see the light of day,” said Barry S. Michaelson, Pizer’s partner for more than 20 years at a Santa Ana law firm, after the sentencing. “Everyone who knew Seymour even slightly would tell you what a kind, caring person he was.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard King argued in court that Karcher killed Pizer during a robbery. But Deputy Public Defender David Biggs told jurors during the trial that Pizer, who was infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, had a “death wish.”

Karcher claimed that he was picked up by Pizer and agreed to perform a sex act for $100--but made it clear that he would not engage in sexual intercourse. Karcher said that when the two men went to a Garden Grove motel room, Pizer insisted on sex and tried to rape him.

Karcher told jurors he became enraged and attacked Pizer in self-defense, using a strap to strangle him.

“If we had done what we agreed to, we would never be here today,” Karcher told the judge Friday.

The Orange County Superior Court jury that heard Karcher’s testimony, however, rejected that claim and convicted Karcher of first-degree murder on June 22.

Judge Rheinheimer also denied a request for a new trial by Biggs, who argued in court papers that the jury was wrongly prevented from hearing allegations about Pizer’s sexual history with another male prostitute.

Karcher and his mother, Debra James, alluded to this evidence during statements to the judge.

“From the beginning this trial has been one-sided,” James said, adding that she believed the court was biased because “Mr. Pizer was a lawyer and my son was a nobody. There are things about Pizer the jury did not get to hear.”

Michaelson said after the hearing that he resented such attempts to defame his former law partner, whom he described as an expert in credit-union law. He characterized as “ludicrous” the defense claims that Pizer, a small, aging man, could somehow have posed a serious threat to Karcher, a strapping man who played football in high school.

“He can say what he wants. The jury saw through it,” Michaelson said.