Man Gets Life in Killing at Computer Store : Crime: Woman’s arrival apparently interrupted a robbery. She was there to pick up her son, a store employee. Parole is not an option of sentence for slayer.

A 23-year-old Los Angeles man was sentenced to life in prison without parole Friday for his role in the slaying of a woman who stumbled upon an armed robbery in 1991 at a Fountain Valley computer store.

Eric D. Clark, the second defendant in the case to be convicted of first-degree murder with special circumstances, has maintained his innocence in the slaying of Kathy Lee and tried unsuccessfully Friday to get a new trial and a new attorney.

Lee, a 49-year-old executive secretary at Hughes Aircraft in El Segundo whom friends described as a gifted artist, was shot once in the head on Oct. 18, 1991, in the parking lot of CompUSA when she came to pick up her teen-age son who worked at the store. The mother of two apparently surprised the robbers, police said.

Employees inside the store, including Lee’s son who was 18 at the time, had been gagged and handcuffed at gunpoint to a restroom rail, but were not hurt.

The victim’s husband, overcome by emotion, did not speak before Judge Richard L. Weatherspoon on Friday, but in a previous written statement to the court said the murder of his wife, whom he described as his “best buddy,” had “ruined his life.” He told the court he hoped her killers would spend the rest of their lives in prison.

Members of Clark’s family also attended the hearing, but made no statements to the judge.

Another defendant has been convicted of first-degree murder and is awaiting sentencing, while a third, Clark’s older brother, William, is awaiting trial. William Clark, along with a Los Angeles woman, also face charges of killing a key witness in the robbery case.