LOS ANGELES : 2 Get Life Without Parole in House Fire That Killed 5
Two men were sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for setting a fire that killed five members of a family that suffered the wrath of drug dealers.
Superior Court Judge Charles Horan followed a jury’s recommendation in sending Victor Spencer, 39, and Harold Mangram, 48, to state prison for the rest of their lives. Jurors rejected the prosecution’s argument that the defendants deserved to die for their crime.
The men were convicted in December of five counts of murder with the special circumstance allegations of multiple murder and murder by arson for the Sept. 7, 1991, blaze. Spencer and Mangram poured gasoline through a mail slot in the door of an apartment at the Jordan Downs housing project in Watts. Seventeen members of a family were sleeping there at the time.
Evidence in the trial centered on the testimony of two witnesses, including Frank Villareal, who initially was charged in the crime but pleaded guilty to five counts of manslaughter in exchange for his testimony.
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