Kevin Ray James, the man convicted in the infamous slaying of bank teller Monica Leech during a 1997 bank robbery in Thousand Oaks, has been sentenced to at least 19 years in prison.
James learned of his fate last Friday, with a Ventura County judge sentencing him to 19 years to life in state prison for his role in one of the most notorious crimes in the county’s history.
James pleaded guilty to the crime on May 16, admitting that he shot Leech in the back of the head while she and other hostages at the bank were handcuffed.
He was one of two men who entered the Western Financial Bank in Thousand Oaks on April 28, 1997, posing as construction workers and demanding cash from the vault.
Several of the employees were handcuffed and forced to the ground as James looked over them, while the other suspect, who has never been identified, led three employees to the vault…