Rapist Sentenced in Girlfriend’s Slaying : Crime: James Thomas Hernandez previously received life prison terms for assaulting, torturing a woman.

A handyman who confessed to killing his live-in girlfriend and burying her body in a North Hollywood warehouse pleaded guilty Thursday to manslaughter and was sentenced to 11 years in state prison.

But authorities said James Thomas Hernandez will never be released because he previously received two life sentences for raping and torturing another woman in the same Sherman Way warehouse about six months after disposing of the body there.

“I believe you’re a very dangerous person and someone who should never be released from prison,” said Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Michael J. Farrell.

Two days after he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, Hernandez told authorities that he strangled Pamela Henslee, 33, on Oct. 4, 1992, in the apartment the couple shared on Magnolia Avenue in Van Nuys, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter S. Berman .

Henslee’s body was unearthed last month. Police found the remains after digging through a concrete floor, about three feet of dirt, and then another piece of concrete. The body was hogtied with red nylon rope, the mouth covered with duct tape.

In his confession, Hernandez said he killed his girlfriend in a rage after he discovered she had purchased cocaine on credit. He said he also blamed the woman for getting him addicted to the drug.

Hernandez said he then brought her body to the vacant building, where he used a jackhammer to break through a cement floor.

Last year, Hernandez was convicted of torturing and sexually assaulting a 25-year-old acquaintance March 27. During his trial, Hernandez blamed cocaine for his actions.

Hernandez worked for a firm that managed dozens of commercial properties. He had keys for a number of warehouses and access to heavy equipment.

The torture victim, who was left with permanent neurological damage after Hernandez attached an electrical device to her breasts, looked on Thursday as her assailant admitted publicly for the first time his role in Henslee’s death.

“I definitely think he would have been a serial killer,” the woman said after Hernandez was led away to prison.

“I think he got a taste for what he had done (and if I were not able to escape) I think he would have continued on,” she said.

The rape victim testified during his trial that Hernandez repeatedly mentioned the name Pamela as he threatened to kill her and bury her under the floor of the warehouse.

During her ordeal, the woman heard noises that sounded like a shovel striking cement, she testified.

On Thursday, Farrell noted Hernandez’s admitted addiction to drugs and pornography and urged Hernandez to work with prison officials on the problem, which the judge said was prevalent in society.

“This case has always been the number one argument against the use of cocaine, against the legalization of cocaine,” said defense attorney Craig Robinson of Van Nuys.

“This is ridiculous,” he said. “This is a 31-year-old man with no prior record, no history of any abusive behavior, and all of sudden, he’s in jail for the rest of his life.”