Mother, Son Sentenced to Prison for Life
Without Parole in 1998 Murder of Businessman

LOS ANGELES – Calling her “one of the most evil individuals that I have ever encountered in my 16 years on the bench,” a Los Angeles judge imposed a life-without-parole prison term on Sante Kimes for the murder of 63-year-old Granada Hills businessman David Kazdin.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy-Powell also separately sentenced Kimes son, Kenneth, to a life-without-parole term in exchange for his guilty plea and testifying against his mother at last year’s trial. At the mother’s hearing, the judge said that Kenneth Kimes was “both dominated and brutalized by…his mother.” She termed him “one of the great tragedies in this case,” but said he had to be held responsible for his actions.

Sante Kimes was sentenced after Judge Kennedy-Powell denied a defense motion for a new trial. During the sentencing hearing, the judge noted the 71-year-old woman showed “no remorse for any of the bad acts that she has done.”

“The good news is that she’s going to be locked up for the rest of her life,” the judge said.

To Kenneth Kimes, who turns 30 on Thursday, the judge noted that although his plea agreement spared both himself and his mother a possible death penalty, he finally was able to “cut that…stranglehold that she had on him.”

The judge said that Sante Kimes used her son as “her personal criminal.” It was Kenneth Kimes who shot Kazdin in the back of the head to prevent him from interfering in an insurance scam that Sante Kimes had going on at the time.

Kazdin’s body was dumped in a trash bin near Los Angeles International Airport after the March 13, 1998, murder. Sante and Kenneth Kimes fled California and later turned up in New York City, where they were arrested, charged and convicted of murdering a wealthy widow whose body has never been found.

Each of the defendants was sentenced 100-plus years in prison in New York. New York released them to California custody after the convictions. Each of their life sentences is to run concurrent with the New York sentences.

Kenneth Kimes pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and admitted the special circumstances of multiple murder, murder for financial gain and murder of a witness. On July 7, 2004, a Superior Court Judge in Judge Kennedy-Powell’s court convicted Sante Kimes of the same charges.

Under an agreement with New York, Sante Kimes is to be returned there to complete her sentence. Kenneth Kimes is expected to ask the state of California to allow him to serve his term here. Under the plea agreement, the prosecution will not oppose his request to serve his term in California.

The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Eleanor Hunter of the Major Crimes Division.

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