Woman Gets 19-Year Prison Sentence for Killing Ex-Boyfriend
A Lake Forest woman was sentenced Friday to 19 years to life in prison for fatally shooting her former boyfriend during an argument.
Linda Nancy Phillips, 44, claimed she gunned down Ricardo Ornelas, 40, of Fountain Valley out of fear for her own safety following a dispute at her home on May 28, 1992. But prosecutors contended that Phillips murdered Ornelas following a lovers’ quarrel.
Phillips, a former secretary, and Ornelas, a nuclear engineer, had shared a stormy, “roller-coaster” relationship, according to evidence presented at trial.
An Orange County jury found her guilty of second-degree murder. On Friday, Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey sentenced Phillips to 15 years to life in prison for second-degree murder charge, and added four more years for a weapons charge.
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