March 22, 2005
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Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Mother, son sentenced in businessman’s death
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sante Kimes
Kenneth Kimes
LOS ANGELES — Five years after the pair received identical sentences for the murder of a wealthy New York socialite, a mother and son were sentenced Monday to life in prison without parole for killing a Los Angeles businessman.
Sante Kimes, 71, was convicted in July 2004 of first-degree murder in the death of David Kazdin, whose body was found in a trash bin near Los Angeles International Airport in 1998. Her son, Kenneth Kimes, pleaded guilty to the murder in 2003 and agreed to testify against his mother.
On Monday, Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy-Powell called Sante Kimes “one of the most evil individuals.” The judge said the younger Kimes was brutalized and manipulated by his mother but must take responsibility for his crimes.
“At least he finally stepped up to the plate,” the judge said.
The sentencing was the latest in a bicoastal saga in which the mother-son team murdered Kazdin and New York socialite Irene Silverman to secure a multimillion-dollar townhouse and cover up a fraudulent loan.
Kenneth Kimes testified at his mother’s trial that she decided to kill Kazdin, an old friend, after he discovered that she had taken out a $280,000 loan by forging his signature.
Kimes, who turns 30 on Thursday, said his mother planned the details of the killing and sent him to do the job. He testified that he shot Kazdin in the back of the head at close range and threw the body in a trash bin with the help of a person recruited from a homeless shelter.
Kenneth Kimes testified that the two later traveled to New York in a motor home.
The Kimeses were convicted in 2000 in New York for murdering Irene Silverman, an 82-year-old wealthy widow whose body has never been found. Prosecutors said the pair conspired to steal Silverman’s $7 million Manhattan townhouse.
In that case, Sante Kimes was sentenced to 120 years in prison without parole, while her son received a 125-year sentence.
In 1985, Sante Kimes was arrested in Las Vegas on charges of enslaving four Mexican maids. A jury in 1986 found her guilty of forcing involuntary servitude, unlawfully transporting illegal aliens and escaping federal custody.
She was sentenced to five years in prison.
