# data[].attributes.body
Def.= mistaken

Passed at the same time, it was erroneously regarded in English-speaking America...in Boston. pg. 133

# data[].attributes.body
def.= keeping hold of something

Thus the principle of no taxation without representation was supremely important, and the colonist cluing to it with tenacious consistency. pg. 127

# data[].attributes.body
Def.= destructive, damaging

Worst of all, Grenville's noxious legislation seemed to jeopardize...as Englishmen. Pg.126

# data[].attributes.body
Def.= intolerable, unpleasent

Then in the same year,1765, Grenville imposed the most odious measure of all...military force. Source: The American Pageant(apush book) pg. 126

# data[].attributes.body
Def.= well known

Ronald Lee Sanders is not a notorious killer.

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It was, an appeals attorney said, "a dirty little murder."

Ronald Lee Sanders is not a notorious killer.

Like most of the 167 condemned men living on San Quentin's two Death Rows, Sanders is virtually anonymous.

The murder for which he was convicted did not make the pages of The Times. It was not even a big story in Bakersfield, where it occurred.

The judge who sentenced Sanders to the gas chamber couldn't remember the details of the case 3 1/2 years later.

Sanders was sentenced to die for his role in the 1981 bludgeon killing of the girlfriend of a small-time cocaine dealer during a drug rip-off.

"I just cannot believe that Sanders' case would have been tried as a death penalty case in Los Angeles or in San Francisco or virtually any major metropolitan area," said appeals attorney Dennis Riordan.

'Doesn't Compare'

"But beyond that," he said, "it's a dirty little case. It doesn't compare to cases which, for one reason or another, are so horrid and yet (the convicted murderers) don't receive the same penalty."

In the terrible and numbing litany of crimes committed by many of those on Death Row--the torture murders, the rape killings, the child slayings, the mutilations, the multiple murders, the cold-blooded executions and the murders for hire--Sanders' case does seem less horrible than most.

And, at first glance, the articulate, seemingly well-educated Sanders appears somewhat different from his fellow Death Row inmates.

According to a 1984 report by the state Bureau of Criminal Statistics, two-thirds of the condemned men at San Quentin have an arrest record involving violence. About 41% had previously done time in state prison. Nearly 40% of them had been sentenced to the California Youth Authority as juveniles.

Undoubtedly, many of them, like inmates throughout the state prison system, grew up poor in unstable homes and without family guidance, education or training.

But Sanders doesn't seem to match that profile.

Insists He's Innocent

Insisting that he is innocent and that his conviction will be reversed on appeal, Sanders stared with wide, pale brown eyes at a visitor and told of how he copes with life on Death Row:

"To me, life is all about evaluating the images that you have within yourself and projecting those images of who you really are and living comfortably with yourself."

The image Sanders was trying to project is one of a well-mannered product of a stable, middle-American family. He told of growing up in a pleasant tract home with a two-car garage, of being an athlete at Bakersfield High School, getting good grades, graduating, marrying his high school sweetheart, attending college in Canada. . . .

Sure, he admitted, he got into trouble as a youngster. He was sent to the Youth Authority for minor offenses. And he even did some prison time for robbery, but all he was doing was helping a friend collect a debt. And he had long since returned to middle-class life before he was accused of murder.

It is an interesting image. Maybe it is the way Sanders wishes it could have been. But it is a fantasy.

Ronald Lee Sanders was born in Bakersfield on April 23, 1952. He was the second oldest of five children born to a horse trainer and his wife, who divorced when Sanders was about 11.

The children grew up mostly in Orange County, according to a sister who discussed her brother on the condition she not be identified. The youngsters were shunted from mother to father, and sometimes Ronald was sent to stay with a grandmother in Bakersfield.

The children lived in 25 to 30 different places growing up, the sister said, and when they hit their teens, they ran the streets unsupervised:

"We were just run-around kids, I guess."

All the youngsters got in trouble, the sister said.

She said she was once married to a drug addict and on one occasion was herself charged with assault with a deadly weapon, kidnaping, burglary and robbery.

Another sister, she said, died of drug-related hepatitis at the age of 17.

Constantly in Trouble

Ronald Lee Sanders is remembered by his family and acquaintances as very intelligent, but although he attended high school in Orange County he never graduated and was in almost continual trouble with the law from his early teens until his early 20s.

He was sentenced to the California Youth Authority four times, the first sentence at the age of 14 for burglary and violation of probation. At 18 he was arrested by the Fountain Valley Police Department and charged with a string of 14 armed robberies.

Sanders pleaded guilty to one of the holdups and was sent to state prison for two years and nine months. His whereabouts during his mid-20s is unclear, but before he turned 30 Sanders was back in Bakersfield, the city of his birth. On his right forearm was tattooed a Nazi, on his left, a half-naked woman wearing a ball and chain.

"He's a tough guy," said Sanders' brother-in-law.

Janice Dishroon Allen was born in Atlanta on Jan. 21, 1952, just three months before Ronald Lee Sanders.

Janice was the youngest of three children. When she was about 15 her father died of a brain tumor. Janice dropped out of high school in the 11th grade, got married, had a child and divorced.

In the winter of 1980, the tall, attractive young woman with long honey-blonde hair moved to Bakersfield to be near her brother, Tommy Dishroon, a school album photographer who, like their father, suffered from an inoperable brain tumor.

Allen lived with her brother, took care of him and got occasional work baby-sitting and cleaning apartments.

"She liked horseback rides, swimming, lying in the sun, dancing," said her sister, Kathy Schube of Atlanta. "She just wanted to enjoy life."

At a Bakersfield tavern Allen met and became romantically involved with Dale Boender, then 26, a small-time cocaine dealer. Allen began accompanying Boender on some of his drug sales and used cocaine with him.

Allen's Birthday

On Jan. 21, 1981, Allen's 29th birthday, Boender was invited by a regular drug customer to go to a trailer court to meet a man supposedly interested in buying $4,000 worth of cocaine, far more than Boender had at the time. Allen went with Boender to the trailer court.

It was a setup. Boender was attacked by a club-wielding assailant as he walked into the house trailer. But, in spite of being badly beaten, Boender was able to fend off the attacker, who fled after knocking Allen down.

Two days later, on Jan. 23, the couple was fixing dinner in Boender's apartment when they heard a knock at the door.

When Boender opened it, two men, one holding a large-bore handgun, forced their way in. They bound and blindfolded Boender and Allen and ransacked the apartment, but found only about two grams of cocaine in Allen's purse and $18 in Boender's pocket.

Before the intruders left, Boender and Allen were bashed on the head with a club.

Boender survived. Allen died.

Charged With Murder

Ronald Lee Sanders, then 28, and an acquaintance, John Cebreros Jr., also 28, were subsequently arrested and charged with murdering Allen and attempting to murder Boender.

Kern County Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen M. Tauzer prosecuted the crime as a "special circumstances" murder that carries either the death penalty or life in prison without possibility of parole. The special circumstances, Tauzer charged, were that the murder occurred during a robbery, that a firearm was used in the crime and that the victim was killed to prevent her from testifying about the previous rip-off attempt, although that crime had not been reported to the police.

Boender was the key witness.

The first jury to hear the case hung 11 to 1 for conviction of both defendants.

A second jury found both defendants guilty of murder, attempted murder and of all special circumstances charged. It was never determined who wielded the club in Allen's death.

When the jury was called back to decide whether Sanders should be sentenced to death or life without parole, he refused to allow his defense attorney, Frank Hoover, to present a case on his behalf.

"I didn't do it with a clear conscience," Hoover said. "(But) Ron felt like life without the possibility of parole was worse than being killed."

Prosecutor Tauzer, however, believes Sanders coldly gambled that he would have a better chance on appeal by going directly to the state Supreme Court on the automatic death penalty review than going to the state Court of Appeal with a life without parole sentence.

Whatever Sanders' motive, the jury's verdict was death and on March 3, 1982, Kern County Superior Court Judge Gerald K. Davis sentenced Sanders to the gas chamber.

"There is something inhuman about beating someone to death while they are bound hand and foot, blindfolded," Davis said from the bench. "This man is a menace to society."

The prosecution, believing Sanders to be the leader in the crime, decided not to seek death for Cebreros, and Davis sentenced Sanders' accomplice to life without parole on the same day.

Ronald Lee Sanders does not look tough. He is small, pale and paunchy. His sandy-colored, curly hair is closely cropped and he wears a moderately droopy mustache. His long-sleeved shiny blue shirt, sent from the outside, is buttoned at the cuffs, covering the Nazi and the girl with the ball and chain.

Now and then he laughs in quick, high nervous bursts. But, for the most part, he is soft-spoken and articulate as he tells of his life with 67 other prisoners on San Quentin's old Death Row, which inmates sometimes call "The Shelf."

Actually, there are two Death Rows at San Quentin. "The Shelf" is on the sixth floor of North Block. The other is in South Block, where about 100 condemned men live in dismal and violent Carson Section, which also houses 130 troublesome prisoners kept in super-secure lockup status. A guard was killed by a prison-made spear in Carson Section in June.

Both the old Death Row and Carson Section are under supervision of a court-appointed monitor overseeing prison conditions.

Called Thoughtful Loner

Sanders is considered by Death Row guards to be a thoughtful loner who nevertheless is willing to help other inmates with their problems, according to prison officials.

"Where we live," Sanders said, "is the most congenial atmosphere in the CDC (California Department of Corrections). . . . Because we work at it. . . . If a person has a problem, whether it's racial or anything, we can talk to him. . . . It's peaceful up there. . . . The whites mix with the blacks, the Mexicans mix with the blacks and whites."

There is, he said, "a camaraderie of sorts." It is not based on living under death sentences, he explained, but on a common desire to keep certain privileges, such as being allowed to make collect phone calls.

Sanders described living a cloistered existence on Death Row, doing legal research, reading, studying and praying. Sanders said he does not fear death because he is confident that he can prove his innocence and beyond that, he said, everyone must eventually die anyway.

Describing the routine on Death Row, he said that at about 8 a.m. the men are allowed out of their cells into an area about 12 feet by 200 feet. They are given regular exercise periods in an enclosure on the roof. At 2:30 p.m., they are all locked in their cells for the remainder of the day.

Travel Poster in Cell

Sanders said he has lived the last three years in cell No. 11, where he keeps taped to the wall a travel poster of a peaceful Austrian landscape and a picture of a lion cub. He also tapes Bible verses to the cell wall and said he begins each day with prayer:

"I pray for the institution. I pray for the staff. . . . I pray for the inmates."

Did he become deeply religious after he was condemned to die?

"When you get to the last bus stop," he chortled, "you better do something."

There was in the tone of that comment a hint of the old "run-around kid," the street-wise, con-wise, tattooed tough guy.

But immediately Sanders' voice became soft and serious and he said earnestly:

"I mean, you've got to start reevaluating the realities in your life. . . . If you're projecting a false image, or a front . . . that has to be dealt with and broken down. In other words, a person, in order to be happy within himself, to be at peace with himself, must express outwardly what he really is inwardly."

Scriptures, he said, are helpful:

"One of my favorites is Hebrews 4:12: 'The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and the joints of the marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

Janice Allen lies buried in the red clay beneath the pine trees in a little country church cemetery in Georgia. Her brother, Tommy, died two months after her murder and is buried in the same cemetery.

Dale Boender, now 30, left Bakersfield and lives in another part of the state where he is now a plumber. He says he has given up using and dealing drugs.

John Cebreros Jr., now 33, is in Folsom Prison. The state Court of Appeal granted him a reversal of the special circumstances verdict against him on grounds that intent to kill was not proven in the trial. The first-degree murder verdict stands, however. He is scheduled to go before the state Supreme Court Oct. 7 on a challenge to a court ruling that barred testimony by a witness identification expert during his trial.

Tauzer, the Kern County deputy district attorney, says he plans to retry the special circumstances allegations in the murder charges against Cebreros. He expects that the state Supreme Court also will overturn the special circumstances verdict against Sanders, and he plans to retry that aspect of the case.

Ronald Lee Sanders, now 33, lives on Death Row at San Quentin. On Oct. 7, the state Supreme Court is scheduled to hear his appeal that the trial court erred in rulings on witness identification and on admitting grisly autopsy photos into evidence. His attorneys will also argue that intent to kill was not proven in the trial and that the death sentence in this case is a disproportionate punishment under the state Constitution.

CALIFORNIA'S DEATH ROW

The state Department of Corrections offers these profiles of California's Death Row inmates, based on the 165 prisoners last May. There are now 167 inmates. ETHNIC BREAKDOWN

% of inmates % of Calif. pop. White 48% 67% Black 35% 8% Latino 15% 19% Other 2% 6%

AGE BREAKDOWN

Under 19 0.0% 20-29 34.9% 30-39 47.6% 40-49 23.0% 50-59 6.0% Over 60 0.0%

OTHER CHARACTERISTICS 41% had at least one prior prison commitment. 48% had seven or more prior arrests. 40% had prior commitments to the California Youth Authority. 39% were on parole or provation at the time of the death penalty offense. 40% had more than one homicide victim. 58% of the homicide victims were male. 67% of the homicide victims were non-Latino whites. COUNTY OF SENTENCING Number of Death Row Inmates Alameda: 6 Butte: 1 Contra Costa: 5 El Dorado: 2 Fresno: 4 Glenn: 1 Humbolt: 1 Inyo: 1 Kern: 7 Los Angeles: 56 Madera: 1 Monterey: 2 Orange: 10 Placer: 2 Riverside: 8 Sacramento: 9 San Bernardino: 13 San Diego: 4 San Francisco: 4 San Joaquin: 3 San Mateo: 4 Santa Barbara: 1 Santa Clara: 6 Shasta: 1 Solano: 1 Sonoma: 1 Stanislaus: 2 Tulare: 3 Tuolomne: 1 Ventura: 3 Yolo: 1 Yuba: 1 VICTIMS AND INMATES BY RACE These Bureau of Criminal Statistics figures reflect California Death Row inmates as of May.

RACE NO. OF NO. OF RACE OF VICTIMS OF INMATE INMATES VICTIMS WHITE LATINO BLACK OTHER White 70 118 106 6 0 7 Latino 23 32 18 13 1 0 Black 53 83 33 9 23 18 Other 5 8 6 0 0 2 Total 151 241 162 28 24 27

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'It Was a Dirty Little Murder' but It Lands Him on Death Row

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It was, an appeals attorney said, "a dirty little murder." Ronald Lee Sanders is not a notorious killer. Like most of the 167 condemned men living on San Quentin's two Death Rows, Sanders is virtually anonymous. The murder for which he was convicted did not make the pages of The Times.

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Def.= increase in intensity

Those convicted on federal hate crime charges may also face the death penalty if the crime includes certain aggravating factors.

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OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- Prosecutors announced murder charges Tuesday against the Missouri white supremacist suspected in the fatal shootings of three people outside a Jewish Community Center and retirement home in this Kansas City suburb.

Frazier Glenn Cross Jr., 73, is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday afternoon to face a charge of capital murder in connection with the fatal shooting of Will Corporon, 69, and his grandson Reat Griffin Underwood, 14. He is also being charged with premeditated first degree murder in the shooting of Terri LaManno, 53.

Corporon and Griffin were gunned down in rapid succession Sunday outside the Jewish Community Center, and their deaths are considered one crime, prosecutors said. LaManno was shot soon after outside the nearby Village Shalom, a retirement facility.

If Cross is convicted of capital murder, under Kansas law, he could face the death penalty.

Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe said he had not decided Tuesday whether to seek the death penalty, saying it was too early.

"We are still actively investigating this case," Howe said, adding that he would decide after consulting with victims' families.

"This is about making sure justice is done. This isn't about retribution. This is about seeking justice for the families," Howe said.

Howe said investigators did not think anyone else was involved in the attack. He declined to comment about an FBI search of a trailer near Cross' home in southern Missouri on Monday night. He also refused to comment about how Cross, a convicted felon, obtained the shotgun police say was used in the shooting, or whether he would face charges related to possession of that gun.

Howe, who has never prosecuted a capital case, would not say whether Cross had requested an attorney or been assigned a public defender.

Kansas does not have a state hate crime law. The federal prosecutor, who joined Howe at Tuesday's briefing, said he had yet to bring federal hate crime charges against Cross.

"We are far from having all the evidence," said Barry Grissom, U.S. attorney for the district of Kansas. But he added that "the evidence we have gathered today leads me to believe that we do have enough" to bring federal hate crime charges.

Cross has a four-decade career of supporting white supremacist causes.

He served as the former grand dragon of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and at one point threatened to assassinate the founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, whom he considered a "racial enemy."

Cross has been profiled and monitored by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and ran for political office several times on a white power platform.

The three shooting victims were not Jewish. But the federal prosecutor said that does not matter when it comes to hate crime charges. He said the question is, "If I rob you or harm you, is my bias the cause of my harming you? That's what qualifies as a federal hate crime."

Those convicted on federal hate crime charges may also face the death penalty if the crime includes certain aggravating factors.

The last death penalty case in Johnson County was in the 1990s, and it is still on appeal. The last inmates executed in Kansas were serial killers George York and James Latham in 1965.
ALSO: School stabbing suspect may have threatened classmates Boston Marathon bombings: Victims, residents recall a day of tragedy
Woman tells police she strangled or smothered newborns, stored bodies

follow me on Twitter @mollyhf

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Jewish center shootings: Supremacist faces capital murder charge

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- Prosecutors announced murder charges Tuesday against the Missouri white supremacist suspected in the fatal shootings of three people outside a Jewish Community Center and retirement home in this Kansas City suburb.

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Def.= Reward “This is about making sure justice is done. This isn’t about retribution. This is about seeking justice for the families,” Howe said.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- Prosecutors announced murder charges Tuesday against the Missouri white supremacist suspected in the fatal shootings of three people outside a Jewish Community Center and retirement home in this Kansas City suburb.

Frazier Glenn Cross Jr., 73, is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday afternoon to face a charge of capital murder in connection with the fatal shooting of Will Corporon, 69, and his grandson Reat Griffin Underwood, 14. He is also being charged with premeditated first degree murder in the shooting of Terri LaManno, 53.

Corporon and Griffin were gunned down in rapid succession Sunday outside the Jewish Community Center, and their deaths are considered one crime, prosecutors said. LaManno was shot soon after outside the nearby Village Shalom, a retirement facility.

If Cross is convicted of capital murder, under Kansas law, he could face the death penalty.

Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe said he had not decided Tuesday whether to seek the death penalty, saying it was too early.

"We are still actively investigating this case," Howe said, adding that he would decide after consulting with victims' families.

"This is about making sure justice is done. This isn't about retribution. This is about seeking justice for the families," Howe said.

Howe said investigators did not think anyone else was involved in the attack. He declined to comment about an FBI search of a trailer near Cross' home in southern Missouri on Monday night. He also refused to comment about how Cross, a convicted felon, obtained the shotgun police say was used in the shooting, or whether he would face charges related to possession of that gun.

Howe, who has never prosecuted a capital case, would not say whether Cross had requested an attorney or been assigned a public defender.

Kansas does not have a state hate crime law. The federal prosecutor, who joined Howe at Tuesday's briefing, said he had yet to bring federal hate crime charges against Cross.

"We are far from having all the evidence," said Barry Grissom, U.S. attorney for the district of Kansas. But he added that "the evidence we have gathered today leads me to believe that we do have enough" to bring federal hate crime charges.

Cross has a four-decade career of supporting white supremacist causes.

He served as the former grand dragon of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and at one point threatened to assassinate the founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, whom he considered a "racial enemy."

Cross has been profiled and monitored by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and ran for political office several times on a white power platform.

The three shooting victims were not Jewish. But the federal prosecutor said that does not matter when it comes to hate crime charges. He said the question is, "If I rob you or harm you, is my bias the cause of my harming you? That's what qualifies as a federal hate crime."

Those convicted on federal hate crime charges may also face the death penalty if the crime includes certain aggravating factors.

The last death penalty case in Johnson County was in the 1990s, and it is still on appeal. The last inmates executed in Kansas were serial killers George York and James Latham in 1965.
ALSO: School stabbing suspect may have threatened classmates Boston Marathon bombings: Victims, residents recall a day of tragedy
Woman tells police she strangled or smothered newborns, stored bodies

follow me on Twitter @mollyhf

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Jewish center shootings: Supremacist faces capital murder charge

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- Prosecutors announced murder charges Tuesday against the Missouri white supremacist suspected in the fatal shootings of three people outside a Jewish Community Center and retirement home in this Kansas City suburb.

# data[].attributes.body
Def.= feeling indifferent/ alientated

The twins, who were co-valedictorians of their high school class in Campo, 40 miles east of San Diego, had become estranged in recent years.

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An identical twin whose plot to kill her sister made headlines around the world sobbed uncontrollably Friday as a judge sentenced her to 26 years to life in prison.

Despite her emotional, last-minute protest of innocence, Jeen "Gina" Han, 24, dubbed "the evil twin," received the maximum sentence.

"It is obvious Miss Han is a danger to society, particularly her own family," said Orange County Superior Court Judge Eileen C. Moore. "All of her family have been victims of her crimes."

Han and two teenagers were convicted in November of conspiracy to commit murder and other crimes for the 1996 attack on Sunny Han and her then-roommate, Helen Kim. The young women were bound and gagged in their Irvine apartment moments before police burst in to rescue them.

The twins, who were co-valedictorians of their high school class in Campo, 40 miles east of San Diego, had become estranged in recent years. By November 1996, Jeen was convinced that Sunny had some of her belongings and wouldn't return them. A murder plot, prosecutors contended, was hatched.

Co-defendants Archie Bryant, 18, and John Sayarath, 16, posed as magazine salesmen to get into Sunny Han's apartment. She was in her bedroom at the time, heard Kim scuffling with the men and used her cellular telephone to call 911. The two boys burst into her bedroom and tied her up.

Bryant, who carried a gun in the attack, was sentenced Friday to 18 years in state prison. Sayarath is expected to be sentenced to eight years, pending a decision on whether that will be in prison or a California Youth Authority facility.

The judge said she was more lenient with them because she believed Han had masterminded the scheme.

Before the judge imposed her sentence, a tearful Jeen Han addressed the court for the first time since her court proceedings began.

"I am deeply sorry for everything that has happened," she said in a soft voice. "I am truly sorry." The woman said that "despite the circumstances, I had absolutely no intent to kill my twin sister. Sunny is my flesh and blood."

Han, who was born in South Korea, also apologized to the Korean American community, which had waged a campaign for leniency in her sentencing and submitted 17,000 signatures to the court.

Han reserved her final remarks for Sunny.

"I just want my sister to know that I love her very much," she said.

Sunny Han was not at the sentencing. But their mother, Boo Kim, 49, begged the judge for leniency and cried as the sentence was announced.

During the trial, the prosecution portrayed Jeen Han as a cold schemer who wanted her sister dead. They presented evidence that in the days before the attack, Han had asked several people to help her carry out the slaying.

Attorneys for all three defendants maintained Friday that there was no murder plot among the three.

"I will never believe until the day I die that she was going to kill her sister," said Han's attorney, Roger Alexander. "I will never believe it was her intention."

Prosecutor Bruce Moore had asked for the maximum sentence for all three defendants. He declined to speak to the media after the sentencing.

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Woman Gets 26 Years to Life in Plot to Kill Identical Twin

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An identical twin whose plot to kill her sister made headlines around the world sobbed uncontrollably Friday as a judge sentenced her to 26 years to life in prison. Despite her emotional, last-minute protest of innocence, Jeen "Gina" Han, 24, dubbed "the evil twin," received the maximum sentence.

# data[].attributes.body
Def.= put something in someone's mouth to stop them from speaking

The young women were bound and gagged in their Irvine apartment moments before police burst in to rescue them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
An identical twin whose plot to kill her sister made headlines around the world sobbed uncontrollably Friday as a judge sentenced her to 26 years to life in prison.

Despite her emotional, last-minute protest of innocence, Jeen "Gina" Han, 24, dubbed "the evil twin," received the maximum sentence.

"It is obvious Miss Han is a danger to society, particularly her own family," said Orange County Superior Court Judge Eileen C. Moore. "All of her family have been victims of her crimes."

Han and two teenagers were convicted in November of conspiracy to commit murder and other crimes for the 1996 attack on Sunny Han and her then-roommate, Helen Kim. The young women were bound and gagged in their Irvine apartment moments before police burst in to rescue them.

The twins, who were co-valedictorians of their high school class in Campo, 40 miles east of San Diego, had become estranged in recent years. By November 1996, Jeen was convinced that Sunny had some of her belongings and wouldn't return them. A murder plot, prosecutors contended, was hatched.

Co-defendants Archie Bryant, 18, and John Sayarath, 16, posed as magazine salesmen to get into Sunny Han's apartment. She was in her bedroom at the time, heard Kim scuffling with the men and used her cellular telephone to call 911. The two boys burst into her bedroom and tied her up.

Bryant, who carried a gun in the attack, was sentenced Friday to 18 years in state prison. Sayarath is expected to be sentenced to eight years, pending a decision on whether that will be in prison or a California Youth Authority facility.

The judge said she was more lenient with them because she believed Han had masterminded the scheme.

Before the judge imposed her sentence, a tearful Jeen Han addressed the court for the first time since her court proceedings began.

"I am deeply sorry for everything that has happened," she said in a soft voice. "I am truly sorry." The woman said that "despite the circumstances, I had absolutely no intent to kill my twin sister. Sunny is my flesh and blood."

Han, who was born in South Korea, also apologized to the Korean American community, which had waged a campaign for leniency in her sentencing and submitted 17,000 signatures to the court.

Han reserved her final remarks for Sunny.

"I just want my sister to know that I love her very much," she said.

Sunny Han was not at the sentencing. But their mother, Boo Kim, 49, begged the judge for leniency and cried as the sentence was announced.

During the trial, the prosecution portrayed Jeen Han as a cold schemer who wanted her sister dead. They presented evidence that in the days before the attack, Han had asked several people to help her carry out the slaying.

Attorneys for all three defendants maintained Friday that there was no murder plot among the three.

"I will never believe until the day I die that she was going to kill her sister," said Han's attorney, Roger Alexander. "I will never believe it was her intention."

Prosecutor Bruce Moore had asked for the maximum sentence for all three defendants. He declined to speak to the media after the sentencing.

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Woman Gets 26 Years to Life in Plot to Kill Identical Twin

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An identical twin whose plot to kill her sister made headlines around the world sobbed uncontrollably Friday as a judge sentenced her to 26 years to life in prison. Despite her emotional, last-minute protest of innocence, Jeen "Gina" Han, 24, dubbed "the evil twin," received the maximum sentence.

# data[].attributes.body
Def.= choke, strangle

Edna Phillips, 70, was throttled with her dog's leash and stabbed or slashed 86 times.

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Two 17-year-old girls have been sentenced for torturing and butchering an elderly woman, less than three weeks after a pair of 10-year-olds were charged with murdering a toddler. Again, a troubled nation is asking, how could this happen?

Edna Phillips, 70, was throttled with her dog's leash and stabbed or slashed 86 times. The mental images of the crime have shocked the nation just as the video pictures of little James Bulger being led to his death did last month.

"You are the evil products of the modern age," Judge Scott Baker said after sentencing Maria Rossi and Tina Molloy, two high school dropouts, to indefinite prison terms at Cardiff Crown Court in Wales.

The girls' sentencing for Phillips' murder has renewed public outrage over the upsurge in violent juvenile crime and put the spotlight on the plight of old people. Phillips, who was partially blind, had been tormented for years by one of her murderers, who lived next door.

"Clearly, with hindsight, everybody must ask the question, 'Why was it that so many people around her clearly knew what was going on but did not take any action on her behalf?" said Ann Clwyd, the Labor Party lawmaker who represents Wales' poverty-stricken Cynon Valley, where Phillips lived.

Phillips had previously written to Clwyd to complain of robberies and neighbors who were drunk, on drugs or playing loud music, but officials told her that they couldn't move her to another house, which was in a public housing project.

The details of Phillips' death last July 16 were only reported Monday, when the girls, who pleaded guilty to murder, were sentenced.

Prosecutor John Charles Rees said the two girls, high on drugs and alcohol, grabbed Phillips as she called for her dog outside her house, marched her inside and strangled her with the dog's leash.

Rees said Rossi, who had lived next door to her victim since she was a toddler, had breakfast with her family the next day and sang "We have killed Edna Phillips" to the tune of "The Wizard of Oz."

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Brutal Murder by Teen-Age Girls Adds to Britons' Shock

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Two 17-year-old girls have been sentenced for torturing and butchering an elderly woman, less than three weeks after a pair of 10-year-olds were charged with murdering a toddler. Again, a troubled nation is asking, how could this happen? Edna Phillips, 70, was throttled with her dog's leash and stabbed or slashed 86 times.