Dec 6, 2007 10:45 am US/Pacific
Wife-Killer Sentenced To Life
LONG BEACH (CBS) ―
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Lynn and Manfred Schockner
CBS
A 67-year-old man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility parole today for orchestrating the murder-for-hire of his estranged wife, who was killed as police officers were outside her Long Beach home investigating a report of a prowler.
Manfred Schockner was convicted Sept. 7 of first-degree murder in the Nov. 8, 2004, stabbing death of his estranged wife, Lynn, at the home they once shared in the Bixby Knolls area of Long Beach.
Prosecutors elected not seek the death penalty even though they were also able to prove the special circumstance allegation that Lynn Schockner was killed for financial gain.
Schockner would have had to split at least $3.5 million in community property with this estranged wife
Schockner is the third man to receive life in prison for the murder. The other men involved were Nicholas Alexander Harvey, the hitman, and Frankie Jaramillo, the go-between for Schockner and Harvey. All three were convicted of first-degree murder.
The slaying occurred on a backyard patio in Long Beach, with the Police waiting at the front door to investigate prowler reported by a neighbor.
Schockner testified in his own defense and denied being involved in his estranged wife's killing.
Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Barnes said $50,000 given by Schockner to Jaramillo shortly before the killings was "clearly money to pay for the murders." Defense Attorney Stanley Perlo argued that Schnockner and Jaramillo had been business associates and Schockner had loaned Jaramillo money as early as February 2003.
Despite that phone records bewteen the three men in the days leading up to the killing suggest they were working together, the defense attorney claimed that, "apparently he was conning Mr. Schockner...this guy, Jaramillo, sees Fred as his cash cow. Fred is now in the process of separation. The funds get tied up."
He portrayed Jaramillo as "the planner, the plotter" -- not the middleman -- and that Jaramillo on his own hired Harvey to kill the woman to get her out of the way or to burglarize her house to steal jewelry. The jury of 8 men and 4 women did not see it that way.
Schockner has been jailed without bail since his Dec. 3, 2004, arrest.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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