Carjacking Bill Signed in Wake of Valley Killing : Violence: The tough law provides for a life sentence if a car theft leads to a slaying. Gov. Pete Wilson says the measure is ‘desperately needed.’

With the daughter of a murder victim sobbing quietly in the background, Gov. Pete Wilson on Thursday signed into law a bill allowing carjackers to be sentenced to life in prison if someone is killed during an auto theft.

“We are going to fight back, and we are going to win,” Wilson said. “The bill . . . is desperately needed in what has become one of the cruelest and the most frequently committed crimes in California.

“We’re going to stop it,” he said. “With bills like this one we’ll be able to take the action to prevent criminals from spreading a climate of fear.”

Wilson made his remarks in front of the LAPD Devonshire Division station in Northridge, where officers are investigating the March 15 carjacking and slaying of 74-year-old Naghi Ghoraishy in Chatsworth.

It was in the wake of Ghoraishy’s slaying that Wilson called for tougher legislation to crack down on carjacking. Ghoraishy was killed as he sat in his gold Mercedes-Benz at a Chatsworth gas station after he hesitated in surrendering his keys to a man with a gun.

Ghoraishy’s brother, Sam, and his daughter, Meece, were present at the ceremony, where she wept during Wilson’s brief speech. Wilson called them courageous for publicly supporting the new legislation, despite the pain in recalling the incident.

“They will never forget and we will never forget the tragedy that befell them,” Wilson said.

“I want to thank the governor and everyone else who was instrumental in passing this bill, and hopefully . . . we can prevent this sort of thing from happening to anyone else,” Meece Ghoraishy said.

The new law, which was authored by Sen. Robert Presley (D-Riverside) and passed unanimously in both the state Senate and Assembly, makes carjacking a specific felony punishable by three, five or nine years in prison. An additional three years could be added for any prior convictions, and as much as six more years could be tacked on for the use of a gun, according to Carla Agar of the state Criminal Justice Planning Office.

If a kidnaping is involved, the sentence could be as much as life in prison. The new law allows a first-degree murder charge to be filed if someone is killed during the auto robbery. Usually, intent must be proven for the filing of a first-degree murder charge, which carries a 25 years to life sentence.

The new law also adds carjacking to the list of crimes in which a juvenile at least 16 years old may be tried as adult.

Previously, carjackers--except where a murder was involved--were frequently charged with second-degree robbery, which carries a prison term of two to four years.

Devonshire Division Capt. Vance Proctor said the tougher law is “much needed and will hopefully deter suspects from committing carjackings.” Those who continue to commit such crimes, Proctor said, “will be put away for a long time . . . so that when they do come out they will no longer be in a position physically to commit a crime.”

Proctor said that through the end of August, there have been 362 carjackings in the San Fernando Valley this year and 2,663 in all of Los Angeles.