Pacoima Man Gets Life Sentence in Supermarket Slaying

Calling the murder “unspeakably disgusting,” a judge handed down a life prison sentence to a Pacoima man convicted in a series of supermarket robberies that ended with the slaying of a salesman who was on the phone with his fiancee.

Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Sandy Kriegler sentenced Jose Santillan to 26 years to life in prison for his role in the murder of Robert Ward Jr., who was shot to death during an Oct. 19, 1992, robbery at a Ralphs supermarket in Van Nuys.

While Santillan, 20, did not pull the trigger, he is responsible for Ward’s death under legal doctrine that makes criminals liable for murder if anyone dies during the course of the crime.

The man who pulled the trigger and another man wanted in the crime spree have never been caught. Authorities believe that they have fled to Mexico.

After the sentencing, Ward’s fiancee, Kandace Rae Worley, described how she was speaking with her future husband when “there was a pause, and then I heard a gunshot. (Later,) I could hear the paramedics trying to resuscitate him.”

Worley, a Lancaster resident who is now 33, said she had been engaged to Ward, a 28-year-old Palmdale resident, for nine months.

Ward’s sister, Caroline Holland of Granada Hills, acknowledged that Santillan, like her murdered brother, was the father of a child, but she asked for a stiff sentence. “I will pray for his baby,” Holland said in court, “and I hope Jose Santillan prays for himself.”

A handcuffed Santillan, who wore a blue jail jumpsuit and a plastic rosary around his neck, showed no emotion as Holland and Worley spoke in court.

“It is a terrible way to die,” Kriegler said of the shooting, “but having someone on the other end of the line to hear that is unspeakably disgusting.”

The same jury that convicted Santillan in Ward’s death earlier this month also found him guilty of 20 counts of robbery stemming from eight separate holdups during a three-week period. The judge added nearly 23 years to Santillan’s life term for “inflicting terror throughout supermarkets in the Valley.”

There was no physical evidence to link Santillan to any of the robberies, but during the trial two people who were in the store when Ward was shot positively identified Santillan as one of the two robbers. Another witness said he saw Santillan in the parking lot moments after the shooting.

The Ralph’s at Sherman Way and Woodman Avenue where Ward was killed was robbed twice during the crime spree.

Kriegler noted that Santillan and his accomplices became more brazen as the robberies continued. Three supermarkets were robbed the day Ward was gunned down.

Defense attorney Dennis Cohen asked that the sentences for robberies run at the same time as the 26 years to life for the murder. “We know Mr. Santillan is not the killer, (and) we know Mr. Santillan turned himself in,” Cohen said, noting that the life sentence means Santillan may never be paroled.

After announcing that the robbery charges would add another 22 years and 8 months to the sentence, Kriegler said he hopes to punish Santillan and to deter others from committing violent crimes.