19-Year-Old Sentenced in Grandmother’s Killing

A local teenager was sentenced Friday to 15 years to life in prison for her role in the grisly death of her grandmother, who was stabbed 36 times during a frenzied attack in her home 2 1/2 years ago, authorities said.

Prosecutors argued that Jessica Richards, 19, aided and abetted in the slaying of Jean E. Richards, 62, because the teenager was tired of living under her grandmother’s rules, said Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Walt Schwarm.

Jessica Richards was tried as an adult and convicted of second-degree murder earlier this year. Her boyfriend, Brian Mote, also 19, is scheduled to face trial in August for his alleged connection with the killing.

Jean Richards started raising her granddaughter after the girl’s mother was killed in a car crash in the 1980s. In the weeks leading up to the December 1997 killing, relatives said the two quarreled frequently and that Jessica threatened to kill her grandmother on several occasions.

A day after the slaying, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police discovered Jessica Richards and her boyfriend sleeping in the grandmother’s Toyota Camry, authorities said.