Hit Man Gets Life for 2 Slayings
A Los Angeles hit man was sentenced to life without parole Tuesday for killing two witnesses who were supposed to testify against his friend.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Larry P. Fidler called Randall Bruce Williams’ crimes “cold, calculated and vicious.”
Williams, 38, was sentenced to two life terms without parole plus two terms of 25 years to life.
He was convicted two weeks ago of the 1998 execution-style killings of James Navaroli, 36, and April Mahoney, 25.
The couple were shot in the driveway of their San Fernando Valley home. Kenneth Leighton, 39, Williams’ friend, ordered the hit to prevent the pair from testifying against him in a burglary case.
Williams and Leighton were tried together in 2001 but with separate juries.
One jury deadlocked on Williams. Leighton was convicted, but the conviction was overturned by an appellate court. He was retried, convicted this year and sentenced to two life terms.
The two were suspects in a series of robberies in the Valley in 1997.
Desperate to avoid a third strike, which would have meant a life sentence, Leighton began intimidating Navaroli and eventually hired Williams to kill the father of two. Navaroli died at the scene but Mahoney, his girlfriend, survived long enough to identify Williams as her killer.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
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