Man Gets Death Penalty in Robbery-Killing
A Los Angeles judge has sentenced a 21-year-old man to death for an August 1996 home-invasion robbery in which he hogtied a mother and her teenage daughter, then shot them, killing the older woman.
Carlos Hawthorne was convicted in July of first-degree murder, attempted murder and robbery. Authorities believe that after Hawthorne shot 46-year-old Vanessa Sells and her 16-year-old daughter, Kristian Forte, he fled in Sells’ Lexus, then called police to tell them where to find the car. He was tracked to a telephone booth about a mile from where the car was found.
In imposing the death penalty Friday, Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Connor followed a jury’s recommendation.
“Now we can get on with our lives,” said Marshall Sells, grandfather of Forte, now 17. “The whole thing has been very heavy.”
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