LOS ANGELES : Man Gets Life Without Parole in Fatal Arson

A man who helped kill a couple by locking them in a closet and setting it on fire was sentenced Wednesday to two consecutive life prison terms without possibility of parole.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper, who had called it the most aggravated death penalty case she had encountered in more than 14 years, went along with the jury’s recommendation in sentencing Lonnie Lewis, 33. Lewis and his half brother, Jerome Martin, 25, were convicted Sept. 20 of the murders of Lee Gottstein, 57, and Sylvia Davis, 45, who were burned beyond recognition in the closet of a four-unit apartment on South Orange Grove Avenue. The case was dubbed “Nightmare on Orange Grove.” Angela Merritt, 33, was also forced into the closet but she escaped and staggered outside.

She was raped and shot and remains severely scarred from the burns. She testified during the trial that Gottstein and Davis had sold crack cocaine out of their apartment.

Prosecutors maintained that Lewis and Martin, who also was sentenced to two consecutive life terms without parole, were customers who returned to the apartment Jan. 31, 1989, to rob them.