San Diego Tourist's Murderer Recieves Life in Prison
An Oceanside man was sentenced on Monday to life in prison in Vista court for murdering a woman outside a shopping center in North San Diego County.
Eric Russell Andreasen fatally stabbed Katherine Parker in April 2009 while she was visiting from Sacramento. Thirty-nine year-old Andreasen was charged with first degree murder as well as a special circumstance allegation of murder at some stage in a robbery. Andreasen who claimed insanity and pled not guilty was in fact legally sane during the time of the stabbing. Throughout the hearing on Monday, the San Diego murderer disrupted the court several times claiming that he tried committing suicide with a knife and that he was raped in prison.
The victim’s husband, Al Parker as well as other family members attended the hearing. Aaron Katz, a Vista Superior Court Judge acknowledged and personally apologized to the victim’s husband for his loss. Al Parker stated that his wife’s murderer was going “where he belongs.” Parker also stated that his late wife “was the best thing that ever happened to me. She kept me on the straight and narrow.”
Evidence at the trial showed that Katherine Parker was attacked in the parking lot of an Oceanside shopping center where she was stabbed in the upper and lower parts of her body at least nine times. Andreasen’s public defender Dan Segura argued that schizophrenia prompted the attack, not anger. Segura also explained that witnesses of the attack heard Andresen say “God told me to do it” right after he fatally stabbed the victim. Segura recommended during the trial that Andreasen be placed in a prison where his mental illness will be treated.
O'side Man Gets Life for Fatally Stabbing Tourist, Sign on San Diego, May 23, 2011
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