Jul 1, 2008 1:30 pm US/Pacific
Oakland 'Silence Of The Lambs' Killer Sentenced
OAKLAND (CBS 5 / BCN) ―
Oakland roofer Earl Stefanson was sentenced Tuesday to two life-in-prison terms for murdering 36-year-old Leslie Lamb in 2006 and brutally assaulting two other ex-girlfriends.
Stefanson, 43, was convicted on April 7 of 17 charges.
His most serious conviction was first-degree murder for killing Lamb in Oakland on Aug. 26, 2006.
He also was convicted of assaulting Zeba Wahed and Kristen Nielson on various dates between 2004 and 2006.
In addition, Stefanson was convicted of one count of torture, three counts of inflicting corporal injuries on a cohabitant, two counts of false imprisonment and one count of being an ex-felon in possession of a gun.
Lamb's mother, Ann Lamb, said in a statement read in court on her behalf Tuesday that she suffered "many sleepless nights" thinking about the pain and torture that her daughter suffered when she was killed.
Lamb's son, Justin, who was only 9 years old when she died, said in another statement read in court, "I miss my mom" and urged Alameda County Superior Court Judge Leo Dorado "to put Earl away and tie him in a chair" for the rest of his life.
Wahed said she's "grateful" that she survived being assaulted by Stefanson, saying, "By all probability I should be dead."
Wahed said, "I suffered humiliation, degradation, mental, physical and emotional abuse - every kind of abuse you can think of."
Stefanson, wearing glasses and yellow jail jumpsuit, looked straight ahead and didn't show any emotion as Wahed and the other speakers addressed the court.
Before sentencing Stefanson, Dorado dismissed a defense lawyer Ted Berry's motion for a new trial, which was based on his contention that one of the 12 jurors in the case was influenced by because a co-worker had told him in the middle of the trial that he had read in a newspaper article that Stefanson's father was the former president of the Oakland chapter of the Hell's Angels.
Dorado said he doesn't think the juror was influenced by that information because Stefanson's father wasn't a major factor in the case and the juror who heard the information didn't relay that to other jurors until after their verdicts had been announced.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
