Court Rejects Appeal of Death Sentence in Restaurant Slayings

A man convicted of gunning down three employees and a patron at a Bob’s Big Boy restaurant in Los Angeles lost a state Supreme Court appeal of his death sentence Monday.

The court in San Francisco unanimously upheld the convictions of Ricardo Rene Sanders in the December, 1980, murders in a freezer at the back of the Downtown fast-food restaurant.

Sanders and a companion broke into the restaurant at gunpoint and took $1,300 from the safe, the court said. Sanders then told the employees and customers, “You’re going to get hurt,” and ordered them to the freezer room, where other employees were already gathered, the court said.

After taking money and jewelry from them, the gunmen ordered them to face the wall as they prayed and pleaded. The two men emptied their shotguns into the backs of most of the nine employees and two customers, the court said. One waitress, Evelyn Jackson, suffered permanent brain damage.

Customer David Burrell, waitress Dita Agtani and cashier Ahmad Mushuk were dead at the scene, and busboy Cesario Luna died of his wounds several months later. Jackson, another employee and a customer were seriously wounded.

Sanders was arrested eight days later. One witness, who worked at the restaurant, told police Sanders had approached him in September, 1980, and talked about a robbery.

Franklin Freeman Jr. was convicted of the murders in a separate trial and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Carletha Stewart, charged with taking part in the planning, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life.