Early Parolee Convicted For Killing Parents, Mother Of His Child
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A South L.A. man was convicted on Monday in the murder of his parents and the mother of his child after he was released early from jail.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Bob Bowers found Joshua Vick guilty of first-degree murder for the Jan. 14, 2005, shooting deaths of his parents, Mary and Gable, and the slaying of ex-girlfriend Tesha Collins a day later.
The judge found true the special circumstance allegations that Collins was murdered during the commission of a kidnapping and that there were multiple murders, according to Deputy District Attorney Bobby Grace.
Vick, 29, also was convicted of one count each of robbery and attempted robbery involving separate victims and three counts of criminal threats involving Collins and two of her friends, the prosecutor said.
Vick, who was acquitted of one count of kidnapping for the purpose of rape, is facing three life prison terms without the possibility of parole,
The judge set a sentencing date for May 23.
The District Attorney's Office had initially sought a death sentence against Vick, but decided earlier this year against going that route, according to the prosecutor.
Vick killed his parents in their apartment in the 700 block of West Imperial Highway, shooting his 52-year-old mother twice and his 54-year-old father once.
Collins, a 29-year-old mother of four who had a child with the defendant, was kidnapped the following day from Hooper Early Education Center on East 52nd Street, where she worked as a teacher's aide.
Vick was wounded the next day by police, who spotted him in a car in South Los Angeles. Collins, who had been shot with the same weapon used to kill Vick's parents, was found dead nearby.
Vick had been arrested a few weeks before the slayings for violating probation in an assault case. He was freed after three days as part of an effort by Sheriff Lee Baca to reduce the county's jail population from around 22,000 to 17,500.
Baca later ordered an investigation into why Vick was not identified as a potential danger.
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