Transient Accused In Double Homicide Ordered To Stand Trial

LOS ANGELES (CBS)  — Zachariah Lehnen, a transient accused of murdering an 89-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman in 2011, was ordered to stand trial.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Nancy Newman found sufficient evidence to require Lehnen  to proceed to trial for the May 2, 2011, stabbing and beating deaths of Lucien Bergez, 89, and Erica Escobar, 27, who lived in Santa Monica.

Both victims were found in Bergez's modest Culver City home.

The murder charges include the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder during the course of a robbery.

Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek the death penalty against Lehnen, 31.

Police were called to the home in the 4000 block of Huron Avenue near Washington Boulevard about 10 a.m. May 3, 2011, after the bodies were discovered, according to Culver City police.

Lehnen was arrested two days later.