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In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors.
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Palmdale woman sentenced for killing her mother
Wednesday August 13, 2003
LOS ANGELES (AP) A Palmdale woman found guilty of killing her
husband more than a decade ago was sentenced to 35 years to life in
prison for the slaying of her 67-year-old mother.
Vanessa Walker, 44, was convicted last month for the 2001 murder
of Nada Lazarevic, whose body was found dumped in rural northern
Kern County.
She and her second husband, who was tried by a separate jury,
were accused of killing Lazarevic to get out of thousands of
dollars in debt they racked up in the woman's name.
Prosecutors believe her husband, Ken, 40, strangled the mother,
who died of blunt trauma. He was sentenced last month to 15 years
to life.
In sentencing Walker on Tuesday, Los Angeles Superior Court
Judge Terry Green said ``I don't have words to express the outrage
I feel.''
Walker denied killing her mother in court and said she a was a
victim of domestic violence several months before the murder. She
apologized for ``my lack in judgment for not reporting this crime.
I have three children that I love dearly that need me to take care
for them.''
Walker's sister, Jasmina Trifunovic, denounced her as an ``evil,
inhuman and a cold-blooded person.''
Walker served 18 months on a voluntary manslaughter conviction
in 1989 after shooting her first husband to death in Contra Costa
County. She pleaded innocent, arguing that she was a victim of
battered women's syndrome.
Authorities said Lazarevic, who disappeared Aug. 25, lent nearly
$50,000 dollars to her daughter and son-in-law to pay off credit
cards and help finance a move to Oregon.
But after the victim confronted the couple about overdue bills,
prosecutors argued that the Walkers killed Lazarevic and dumped her
body on a remote stretch of Kern County highway.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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