Jury Urges Life in Prison for Man Who Killed Valley Woman

A Lancaster man was spared a trip to death row Thursday after a jury ruled he should get life without parole for the slaying of an 84-year-old woman last year in Van Nuys.

After a three-week trial, Ramzi Ahmed Badwi, 33, was convicted Monday of first-degree murder with special circumstances for the beating death of Grace Perrin, slain in her home during a robbery.

The jury deliberated almost four hours in the penalty phase of the case, concluding that life in prison was an appropriate sentence.

“I thought the jury did an excellent job,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Danette Myers, adding that justice had been done “because he will be in prison for the rest of his life. He will not be a threat to older Americans.”

Defense attorney Alex Kessel could not be reached for comment. During the three-week trial, Myers elicited testimony from a witness who placed Bawdi near Perrin’s home the day she was killed.

Perrin was ill and living alone when she was discovered beaten to death in November 1996.

Van Nuys Municipal Judge Jessica Perrin Silvers was her closest living relative, according to Myers. Silvers testified during the trial and its penalty phase, the prosecutor said.

Prosecutors introduced evidence linking the victim’s jewelry and other personal effects to Badwi through fingerprints and a pawnbroker’s ticket.

Badwi will be sentenced Dec. 16 by Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Connor.