Insurance Executive’s Killers Get Stiff Terms

The stepson of slain insurance executive Dirk St. Claire Houston and an accomplice were each sentenced Tuesday to 26 years to life in prison for their roles in a murder-for-money plot hatched with the victim’s wife.

His voice cracking, Greg Nottage declared his innocence just before Orange County Superior Court Judge Anthony Rackauckas sentenced him and co-defendant Ramon Padilla.

“I am not guilty of this crime. I had no part in this crime,” said Nottage, 27, a Laguna Niguel marketing specialist who worked in Houston’s successful insurance firm. “I think the system is taking another innocent life.”

Nottage and Padilla, 27, a Santa Ana handyman, were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy for shooting the 37-year-old Houston in his office on Dec. 21, 1991. Authorities said Nottage wanted to take over the lucrative firm and plotted with his mother, who allegedly sought more than $1 million in insurance death benefits.

Lynn Houston, 44, committed suicide with her 22-year-old lover, a gardener who allegedly paid Padilla $500 for the killing at her behest. Padilla’s lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Jeffrey Lund, said he believed the gardener did the killing.

Dirk Houston’s relatives recalled him as an honest businessman victimized by an evil stepson and wife.

“Evil can have a very innocent face,” said Marilyn Houston, the victim’s mother. “Gregory Nottage is irretrievably evil.”

Dirk Houston’s father called Nottage and Padilla remorseless sociopaths. “They know the difference between right and wrong. They just don’t care,” said Roger Houston.

Nottage, who testified in his own defense, stood before the judge to deny the charges again, saying he too was anguished by the killing.

“I feel the pain that Roger feels . . . I feel the pain that Marilyn feels. I feel it more because this is all I think about,” Nottage said.

Rackauckas denied the defendants’ bids for a new trial.

“Mr. Nottage, if this court could believe you in the face of the evidence, then you wouldn’t be getting this sentence,” Rackauckas said. “I do not believe you.”

Nottage and Padilla, who were convicted in July, will be eligible for parole in about 17 years.