TORRANCE : Man Gets Death in Murder of Rape Victim’s Husband
A man who sexually assaulted and shot a Torrance woman in her home, then killed her husband when he tried to intercede was sentenced to death Thursday.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jacqueline A. Connor upheld a jury’s recommendation that Randy Eugene Garcia be put to death for the May 8, 1993, murder of Joseph Finzel, 29.
Garcia was convicted Dec. 13 of going into the Finzel home, tying Lynn Finzel to her bed, sexually assaulting her, then shooting her husband to death when he came home.
“You don’t want the death penalty,” Lynn Finzel said in addressing Garcia during the defendant’s lengthy sentencing hearing. “Joe and I didn’t want death. We had no judge, no jury. You decided to be the judge and jury.”
Garcia’s attorney, Mark Zavidow, argued that his client’s life should be spared, given his unstable upbringing and mental condition.
“This person who will be executed is someone who was and is a person who is ill,” Zavidow argued.
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