Dad Who Killed Kids Gets Life
A washer-dryer repairman who smothered his two young children and survived a self-inflicted gunshot wound was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole.
David Von Haden, 39, of Yorba Linda was spared the death penalty in November when the second jury to weigh whether he should die or spend life behind bars recommended the latter.
The jury that convicted him of killing his 2-year-old daughter, Courtney, and 4-year-old son, Cody, in their home on Feb. 22, 1996, deadlocked on the penalty issue.
The children were killed 13 days after Laurie Von Haden filed for divorce and soon after she filed papers seeking sole custody, according to trial testimony. She had moved in with her mother on the day of the killings.
Defense attorneys argued that Von Haden was clinically depressed over the end of a cherished marriage when he killed the children, and could not see past his own pain. They said Von Haden was known as a devoted father.
But prosecutors said Von Haden killed his children because his wife had begun seeing another man.
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