BURBANK : Man Gets Life in 2 Killings After Rosebush Dispute

A Burbank man who shot two women to death and wounded two others in a rampage touched off by a verdict in a dispute over the pruning of a rosebush was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole--and an additional 17 years to precede the life sentence.

Declaring that Thomas Paul Humenik, 27, displayed a high degree of cruelty, Pasadena Superior Court Judge Thomas W. Stoever stopped just short of issuing the maximum allowable sentence of 19 years and four months in addition to life.

In October, a jury found Humenik guilty of one count of first-degree murder, one count of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder, a verdict that made Humenik eligible for the death penalty. However, that jury recommended life in prison without the possibility of parole, precluding Stoever from issuing the death penalty.

The killings occurred on the same day in 1992 that Humenik was found guilty of misdemeanor battery against Don Boyd, his 75-year-old neighbor. Boyd said he was pruning roses between their two houses when Humenik accosted him. Humenik was put on probation and fined $810.

According to testimony in the murder trial, soon after Humenik returned home from court, he went into his bedroom to get a rifle as the four victims gathered on Boyd’s patio. Boyd’s wife, Merle, 73, was one of the two killed.