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Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Slaying 3

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

A Lake Los Angeles man was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering three family members as his grandchildren cowered in a bedroom.

Oliver Leroy Vann, 45, was convicted last month of fatally shooting his wife, his stepson and the stepson’s wife Nov. 15, 1991, at the 168th Street East home the family shared.

Vann used a .22-caliber rifle to shoot his wife, Marie Antoinette Vann, 52, once in the chest. He shot his wife’s daughter-in-law, Muriel T. Johnson, 40, once in the head. His wife’s son, Ronald T. Johnson, 30, ran through a plate glass window trying to escape, but Vann ran into the back yard and shot him three times.

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The Johnsons’ three children, who were 5, 9 and 11 at the time of the shooting, were not harmed physically. They found the three bodies after Vann left the house.

Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Beauford H. Phelps handed down three life-without-parole sentences, one for each victim, during a very brief hearing that was unusual because neither the prosecution nor the defense made any statement regarding the defendant’s punishment.

“I got exactly what I wanted to hear,” Roy Moses, Marie Vann’s brother, said outside court. Other relatives expressed their pleasure that the gunman would never walk the street again, although several family members said they would have preferred to see the death penalty imposed.

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“I assume the family is relieved,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Joseph Payne. “There was a lot of fear from family members and witnesses that if Mr. Vann ever got out, he would go after them.”

During his trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Vann had a longstanding hatred for his family that peaked on the night of the killings, when there was a heated argument over who would pay some household bills.

Jurors also heard testimony that Vann bought a gun, took target practice and even told several friends that he wanted to kill his family.

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Defense attorney John Ponist contended that it was only after an argument and years of browbeating by his wife that Vann committed the shootings in a rage.

A statement by Vann to the Probation Department echoed this claim.

“People that testified against me lied,” Vann is quoted as saying. “If I told a friend that I would kill my family, my wife would have left. . . . I loved my wife and my biggest mistake was letting her family move in with us.”

Even though Vann had not been in trouble before, Deputy Probation Officer Marlon Stepteau wrote that Vann deserved the maximum prison sentence.

“This individual has shown a complete disregard for the normal laws of human decency,” Stepteau wrote. “His wanton disregard has caused great pain and suffering.”

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