Killer’s Former Girlfriend Gets 6-Year Sentence

A 37-year-old woman was sentenced Monday to six years in prison after she cooperated with authorities and testified against her former boyfriend, who was convicted last week of first-degree murder.

Tammie Lisa Wilkerson was also charged with murder, robbery, carjacking, burglary and being an accessory in connection with the August 1999 death of 41-year-old Mitchell Stanman. But in a deal reached with prosecutors “in exchange for her truthful testimony,” Wilkerson pleaded no contest only to the burglary charge, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Laura Rosenthal.

Wilkerson, who has been referred to as Tammie Coleman in the past, testified against 34-year-old Marcus Sartin. She had gone with Sartin to Stanman’s Studio City apartment believing that they were there for a drug transaction, Rosenthal said, but Sartin stabbed Stanman to death and stole his brand-new silver Porsche Boxster.

“She was actually there at the time of the murder,” Rosenthal said.

Rosenthal said that Sartin killed Stanman, whose $18,000 gold Rolex watch was also missing after his slaying, in order to rob him. But after the murder, Sartin also told an acquaintance who testified during the trial that he killed “a gay guy who tried to come on to him,” Rosenthal said.

At sentencing before Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Michelle Rosenblatt, Wilkerson asked for forgiveness from the victim’s family, Rosenthal said.

Sartin was convicted last Wednesday of first-degree felony murder, robbery, carjacking and burglary after a Van Nuys jury trial. He faces a maximum punishment of life in prison without the possibility of parole at his May 7 sentencing.