Killer of Ex-Girlfriend Convicted

A former California Highway Patrol dispatcher was convicted Wednesday of first-degree murder in the brutal slaying of his ex-girlfriend, Jeannette Cohen of Glendale.

Jurors took little more than a day to reach the verdict against Anthony Roy Shivers. His guilt was never in question as Deputy Public Defender Alan Gelfand conceded his client killed Cohen on Aug. 10, 1997. What was at issue was whether Shivers was guilty of first- or second-degree murder.

Shivers will face a sentence of 25 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole when he returns to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James M. Ideman’s courtroom March 22.

“I know nothing will ever bring my daughter back,” said Jeanette Cohen’s mother, Yolanda Roeber, “but we’re hopeful now he’ll get the maximum sentence.”

At least one juror said a deciding factor was a line from a four-page letter Shivers wrote describing in grisly detail how he choked Jeanette Cohen several times into unconsciousness before fracturing her skull with a 10-pound weight and stuffing her almost lifeless body into a computer box.

“Kept procrastinating the rope deal,” Shivers wrote, referring to his attempts to strangle Cohen. Juror Donna Sanders said that line convinced her it was first-degree murder, because it indicated Shivers spent time thinking about murdering Cohen, instead of killing her in a moment of passion as Gelfand argued.