Former Inmate Sentenced To Prison For Murdering Retired Hollywood Teacher
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A former prison inmate convicted of strangling a retired Hollywood High School English teacher has been sentenced, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said Wednesday.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry ordered Scott Kratlian, 46, to spend 56 years to life in state prison for the murder of Harry Major.
Jurors found Kratlian guilty of murder in October.
On Feb. 10, 2014, police located the 82-year-old's body in a bathtub at his apartment located in the 1400 block of North Vista Street.
According to the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, Major's cause of death was asphyxiation.
Police arrested Kratlian eight days after the killing.
The district attorney's office explained Kratlian became pen pals with Major in 1992 while he was serving a sentence for the murder of Salvatore Caggiano, 66, in New York.
Kratlian was released in late 2013. He engaged in sexual relations with Major after arriving in Los Angeles, which ended after a fight took place, according to prosecutors.
During a preliminary investigation, detectives reviewed surveillance video, which captured Kratlian walking out of a 7-Eleven store moments after withdrawing $200 from Major's credit card at an ATM.
A few minutes earlier, $100 was withdrawn from a liquor store.
During the trial, prosecutors brought attention to the fact that both Major and Caggiano were left for dead in bathrooms while naked or nearly naked.
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