RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA : Man Gets Life Term in Labor-Linked Killing

A Paramount man was sentenced to life in prison without parole Monday for murdering a Rancho Santa Margarita businessman during a labor dispute.

Authorities believe Steven Leroy Henry, 35, was shot to death Sept. 24, 1992, because his company, which supplied workers to unload tractor-trailers at local supermarkets, was doing a better job and squeezing out the competition, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Patrick Donahue.

Benjamin Jimenez, 29, was convicted last month of first-degree murder and murder-for-hire in the ambush attack. Jimenez admitted driving the gunman to the crime scene but told jurors he only did so because his own life was being threatened. Jurors, however, rejected that testimony.

During a sentencing hearing before Orange County Superior Court Judge Kathleen E. O’Leary, Henry’s wife, Mary, said facing the future would be difficult without her “best friend and husband.”

“There is nothing the justice system can do to give me my life back,” she said, adding that she wanted the judge to hand down the maximum sentence to prevent Jimenez from harming anyone else.

Both the prosecutor and defense attorney praised Henry as an innocent victim who was wrongly murdered in broad daylight at a Buena Park intersection.

But defense attorney Gary L. Proctor said his client is also a victim. Proctor said it was unfair that the gunman and the man who orchestrated the slaying have not been captured and “brought to justice.”

Donahue said authorities are still searching for the two assailants.