Jury Urges Life Without Parole for Killer : Sentence: Christopher Arthur Mann earlier was convicted of slaying a man at an automated teller machine in Lancaster.

Convicted murderer Christopher Arthur Mann, 20, will probably spend the rest of his life in prison without possibility of parole.

The same Van Nuys Superior Court jury that found Mann guilty of killing Hans Christian Herzog at an automated teller machine in Lancaster in March, 1993, recommended Thursday that Mann receive the life sentence.

Mann cried as the sentence was read, breaking out of his stoic demeanor in court for the first time since his trial began two months ago.

Because the slaying involved murder during the commission of a robbery, Mann had faced the death penalty.

“This is the best we could have hoped for,” said a tearful Dennis Mann, the defendant’s father. Mann and his wife, Tricia, sat behind their son throughout the trial. They embraced and wept after the verdict was read.

Herzog’s wife and two children were not present for the decision.

Although the jury deliberated for only four hours before convicting Mann of the crime, they spent two days deciding his sentence.

“We bled over it,” said jury member Dave Stewart, 52, of Granada Hills, standing outside the courthouse after the decision was announced. “We went back and forth. But we finally all agreed that although he (Mann) did go over the top . . . he was not the worst of the worst.”

Stewart’s words were reminiscent of public defender Earl Siddall’s closing statement last week, in which he asked the jury to forgo the death penalty because Mann was not “the baddest of the bad or the worst of the worst.”

During the penalty phase of the trial, the prosecution tried to show that Mann was a cold-blooded executioner.

In his closing argument, Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron Smalstig said a tattoo on Mann’s chest that reads “Ladies Love Outlaws” indicated Mann’s predilection for violence and criminal behavior.

“This is the lifestyle he’s chosen,” said Smalstig. “This is the lifestyle he’s embraced, and this is the lifestyle that led him to the brutal murder of Hans Herzog.”

During the trial, the jury watched a videotape showing Mann approaching Herzog at the ATM with a gun behind his back.

A few moments later, the tape showed him dumping Herzog’s body beside his car, which Mann then stole.

Wesley Dean Harper, also charged in the case, testified that Mann was at the scene at the time of the murder. Harper, who said in court he watched the killing from a truck in the parking lot, testified as part of a plea bargain in which he was sentenced to 26 years in prison for first-degree murder.

Smalstig urged the jury to impose the death penalty for Mann to give Herzog’s family justice.

Siddall, however, presented testimony from three doctors who said that Mann suffered from attention deficit disorder, habitual use of methamphetamine and possible brain damage from a head injury.

Siddall suggested that an unexpected honking of Herzog’s car horn may have startled Mann and caused him to accidentally shoot Herzog. Siddall also presented a firearms expert who said that the sawed-off gun may have had a faulty safety switch, contributing to the accident theory.

“I’m going to ask you to have compassion,” Siddall finally said to jurors in his closing statement that touched on numerous, diverse explanations for his client’s actions. “Compassion for the victim and compassion for Mr. Mann. Grief is not solved by vengeance, and vengeance is not part of justice.”

After the decision was read, Siddall said, “I got what I asked for.”

Mann will be formally sentenced by Judge Candace Beason next week.