Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Death penalty proposed for Calif. killings

|
|
 
  
Published: March. 3, 2010 at 2:16 PM

SANTA ANA, Calif., March 3 (UPI) -- A jury in Orange County, Calif., said a woman should face the death penalty for fatally stabbing a fortune teller and her daughter over a bad fortune.

The Orange County Register said an Orange County Superior Court jury on Tuesday recommended Tanya Nelson, 45, face the death penalty at her scheduled March 26 sentencing over the 2005 deaths of Ha Smith, 52, and Anita Vo, 23.

Nelson was convicted in February of fatally stabbing Smith and her daughter in their home in Westminster, Calif., on April 23, 2005.

Authorities maintain Nelson, a mother of four, killed Smith because the fortune teller informed her she would be unable to grant her wish to rekindle a romance with Nelson's ex-boyfriend.

Authorities said Nelson also doused the two bodies with white paint after the killings and went on a shopping spree using Smith's credit cards.

The Register said Philippe Zamora, Nelson's accomplice in the 2005 crimes, pleaded guilty in 2009 to charges connected to the killings. Zamora, who is facing a possible life prison sentence, served as a witness for the prosecution in Nelson's trial.

© 2010 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China Super Bowl XLVI ticker tape victory parade The making of the Oscars
The Chicago Auto Show The Most Desirable Women of 2012 Tu Bishvat Migron settlement
Additional U.S. News Stories
1 of 21
President Obama Signs Smuggling Prevention Act at White House
View Caption
fark
Despite their efforts to convince you otherwise, many "foodies" can't, in a blind taste test, tell...
Photoshop this urban underground dweller
Kim Jong Un Dead. I repeat - Un Dead
Nothing is more romantic on Valentine's Day than taking your lover on a tour of New York's sewers...
Man arrested for writing 'bomb' on some toilet paper. "His family says the word 'bomb' is often...
Now that gay marriage is legal in California, the state's Health Department thought it was necessary...