Jury Hands Down Death Penalty For Murder-For-Hire Gunman

SANTA ANA (CBS/AP) — A Southern California jury has decided on the death penalty for the gunman hired to kill an Orange County businessman so the victim's sister could inherit the family business.

Prosecutors say 35-year-old Armando Macias, the last of six defendants convicted in the murder-for-hire of David Montemayor, was convicted April 21 of murder with a special circumstances allegation of killing him for financial gain. The same jury decided Thursday he should be executed.

Montemayor, 44, was kidnapped near his Buena Park home in 2002 and was shot in the head. Investigators believe he never told the kidnappers where exactly he lived and was killed about a mile away as he tried to run away.

Prosecutors say Montemayor's sister, Deborah Perna, hired Pacoima gang members to kill him because her father planned to give her brother control of the family's InterFreight Transport moving and storage business.

Perna is serving a life prison sentence for murder.

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