2 Sentenced in Murder of 14-Year-Old Girl

Two runaway youths received maximum sentences Wednesday for their roles in the Santa Monica murder of Shevawn Geoghegan, the 14-year-old who was bound, gagged and strangled in an abandoned building.

Los Angeles Airport Superior Court Judge Bernard Kamins sentenced 24-year-old Dennis Ronald Scott, convicted of second-degree murder last month, to 15 years to life in prison. Elizabeth Ann Mangham, 18, who pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter, was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Before issuing his sentence, Kamins called the murder “cruel” and “callous” and criticized Mangham for showing no remorse for her role in the killing.

Prosecutors argued that Mangham, Scott and Glen Mason, an avowed Satanist who orchestrated the killing on Feb. 24, 1998, strangled Shevawn in the former Los Angeles County mental health building near the Third Street Promenade because they considered her a sacrifice to Satan.

Mason, 24, is serving two life terms without the possibility of parole, plus five years. He was convicted last year of first-degree murder.

At the sentencing hearing Wednesday, Scott read a letter of apology for his involvement in the murder. He said he took responsibility for Shevawn’s death because he took her to the location when he knew Mason didn’t want her there.

Mangham, who was 17 at the time of her arrest, sobbed uncontrollably as she pleaded with the judge not to sentence her as an adult and send her to prison, saying she had made progress at the youth detention center.

Despite the sentence, state corrections officials have the authority to assign Mangham to a youth detention center instead of prison.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephanie Sparagna, who prosecuted all three defendants, reminded the court that both Scott and Mangham showed little sorrow for the crime.

After hiding Shevawn’s body, Scott went to a movie with a friend while Mangham went window-shopping.