Death penalty will not
be sought in murder case
LOS ANGELES >> Prosecutors changed their minds and will not seek the death penalty for a woman accused of murdering a local businessman with the help of her son.
Sante Kimes, already convicted of killing a New York socialite, faces a life sentence without possibility of parole if she is convicted of the 1988 murder of a Granada Hills man, Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy-Powell announced yesterday.
District attorney's spokes-woman Sandi Gibbons declined to discuss the case yesterday, citing a gag order from the judge.
Kimes, 69, and her son, Kenneth, are accused of killing David Kazdin. The body of the 63-year-old businessman was found in a trash bin near Los Angeles International Airport.
Prosecutors contend that he was shot because he discovered the Kimeses had forged his name to get a $200,000 loan.
Kenneth Kimes, 28, pleaded guilty to Kazdin's murder and was given a life sentence. Prosecutors said he has agreed to testify against his mother at her April 26 trial.
In 2000, the former Hawaii residents were convicted in New York of murdering 82-year-old Irene Silverman, whose body hasn't been found, and conspiring to steal her $7 million Manhattan townhouse and other possessions.
Sante Kimes was sentenced to 120 years in prison and her son received a 125-year prison sentence.
In 1985, a lawsuit by an 18-year-old girl claimed she was a slave in the Kimeses' Portlock home.
The case was eventually settled out of court.
A 1978 fire badly damaged the Kimeses' Hawaii Kai home. In September 1990, fire destroyed the home. Investigators said both fires were deliberately set.