Aug. 14--A Los Angeles judge sentenced a man to life in prison without the possibility of parole Friday for carrying out a "ritualistic killing" in which the victim was dismembered at a downtown Los Angeles hotel.
Elizabeth White-Peterson clasped her sons' hands and held them up, after the judge announced the sentence for Edward Garcia, who killed one of her sons.
"I thought I had seen it all," said Superior Court Judge Larry P. Fidler, before giving the sentence. "I was wrong."
Jurors found Garcia, 41, guilty of first-degree murder in the November 2010 slaying of Herbert Tracy White, whose dismembered remains were found in Room 66 of the Continental Hotel.
During the trial, Deputy Dist. Atty. John McKinney alleged that Garcia and his wife, Melissa, killed White as part of a "long-held fantasy" of dismembering a body. The prosecutor told jurors that Garcia carved up White's body with a 3 1/2-inch blade and skinned a piece of leg muscle from the bone "like a filet."
Police found White's severed arms still bound by duct tape in a backpack in the hotel room, McKinney recounted during closing arguments. White's torso, covered in scratches and small punctures, was under the bed.
Interested in the stories shaping California? Sign up for the free Essential California newsletter >>
White, 49, had met the couple at a bank in Hollywood days before his death. The former cocaine addict turned Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous sponsor gave the Garcias his phone number and said to call him if they wanted help getting sober, McKinney said.
The evening before White's body was found, the couple called and said they needed help. He drove the married couple to the hotel near skid row and paid to check them in.
McKinney told jurors the couple lured White into the room with the intention of robbing, torturing and mutilating him.
But Edward's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Haydeh Takasugi, painted a different picture for jurors, saying White had brought drugs to the room and was seeking sex from Melissa Garcia.
Jurors found true the special-circumstance allegations of murder during a robbery and torture. Garcia faces a mandatory sentence of life without the possiblity of parole.
Melissa Garcia, 30, is awaiting a separate trial.
ALSO:
Compton worries 'Straight Outta Compton' could give people the wrong idea
Northern California deputy dies rescuing person from drowning in Lake Tahoe
Uber driver robbed at gunpoint, chases teenage thieves, police say
UPDATE
11:38 a.m.: This story has been updated with Edward Garcia being sentenced to life without parole.
This story was originally published at 5 a.m.
