Man Gets 60 Years for Deadly Shooting Spree : Courts: Michael E. Rahming, convicted of the 1991 rampage at Fairview center, blames the victims for their own injuries. He claimed a legal conspiracy to ‘bury’ him.

A disgruntled employee at a facility for the developmentally disabled who went on a bloody rampage in 1991, hunting down and killing his supervisor and injuring two other people, was sentenced Friday to 60 years to life in state prison.

In a rambling statement that upset the shooting victims and the surviving relatives in the courtroom, Michael E. Rahming, 40, blamed the victims for their own injuries because he said they harassed him at work until he was driven berserk.

“I’ve ruined your life and my own as well,” said Rahming, who began his remarks apologetically as he turned to face the audience, but soon turned accusatory. “They made me act in a way in which I have never acted in my life before.”

Rahming’s comments quickly prompted Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald to order him quiet. The judge then handed down the maximum possible sentence against the defendant, whom a jury had declared to be sane in finding him guilty of murder in August.

Rahming was working as a staff painter at the Fairview Developmental Center in Costa Mesa when he armed himself with two handguns on July 30, 1991. The prosecutor likened Rahming to an assassin stalking his victims as he opened fire in a coffee room, injuring James H. Pichon, 38, before chasing after supervisor Allen R. Motis, 53, of Garden Grove. Motis was fatally gunned down as he tried to take cover in his office.

The assailant then calmly walked to his truck and tried to shoot at employee Michael Softa, but the gun misfired. Rahming next drove about a mile to the office of hospital director Hugh Kohler, 45, of Costa Mesa, tracked him down and shot him in the head, injuring him.

Rahming, who is black, claims he was continuously taunted and harassed by employees and supervisors because of his race. Facility employees, however, depicted Rahming as a troubled, erratic employee who was quick to turn violent and filed frequent discrimination claims that were later deemed unfounded.

During his statement Friday, Rahming noted the lack of minorities in the audience and told the victims that if they had been “pushed and dumped on and threatened . . . the way I’ve been threatened,” they would understand his actions.

He told the victims that if they were upset over the incident, they should be “rallying with signs” outside the facility to protest the treatment of minorities at Fairview. He then alleged that the judge, prosecutors and his own defense attorney were all “railroading” him and trying to “bury” him.

Darlene Motis, the victim’s widow, burst into tears as Rahming was making his remarks, and Fitzgerald quickly ordered Rahming to remain quiet.

“I can assure you we’re not trying to bury you,” Fitzgerald said. “An interesting thought, though.”

Rahming has been diagnosed as suffering from paranoid delusions. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but a jury rejected that claim and convicted him of one count of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder.

Fitzgerald said he was giving Rahming the maximum sentence possible in part because he easily could have killed three or more people, instead of just one.

“He tried to kill all the individuals he shot, shot at and tried to shoot,” Fitzgerald said, adding that Rahming is “one of the most dangerous individuals ever to appear before me.”

The judge noted that Rahming will be about 88 years old before he is eligible for parole, but added that he would take the unusual step of advising prison officials that Rahming should never be released.

Before the sentencing, Darlene Motis asked Fitzgerald to impose the maximum sentence and talked about how her husband’s death has destroyed her family. Motis has filed a civil suit against the state, alleging that administrators at the Fairview center were aware of how dangerous Rahming was and should have prevented the tragedy.

Outside of court, Darlene Motis was still shaking as she left the courtroom.

“He just doesn’t want to accept responsibility,” she said. “I hope he never gets out again because I don’t want another family to go through this.”