News Release - Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
Woman sentenced in San Gabriel Valley murder; child abduction
LOS ANGELES – A 27-year-old woman convicted of kidnapping her lover’s child from an Altadena home and killing the child’s uncle was sentenced Wednesday to up to life in prison, the District Attorney’s Office announced.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lance Ito sentenced Mesha Arshaz Dean to 49 years, four months to life in state prison.
Dean was convicted by a jury on March 26 of one count each of second-degree murder, child abuse and kidnapping with a special allegation that the child victim was under 14.
Deputy District Attorney Tamu Usher of the Family Violence Division prosecuted the case.
Co-defendant Vanessa Ochoa, 27, the child’s biological mother, was sentenced to 15 years in state prison on April 9. Under the terms of a negotiated plea agreement, Ochoa pleaded guilty to one count each of voluntary manslaughter, child abuse and kidnapping on Aug. 25, 2010.
The couple drove from Las Vegas to Altadena where the then-four-year-old child lived with his father and grandparents. On the afternoon of March 16, 2007, the boy was under the care of his uncle, identified as Monroe Miles Jr., when the pair arrived to carry out the abduction.
The 33-year-old victim was fatally shot by Dean who, thereafter, fled to Las Vegas with Ochoa and the child. Dean and Ochoa were arrested with the boy in Las Vegas two days later by Las Vegas Metro police. The child was unharmed.
The case was investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
April 11, 2012
Shiara Dávila-Morales
Media Relations Division
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
(213) 974-6724
(213) 974-3528
http://da.lacounty.gov
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Forwarded by:
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Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
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Leroy D. Baca, Sheriff
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
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