A woman convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for masterminding the killing of her husband — a prominent hairdresser — at the home they shared with their two daughters in Woodland Hills was sentenced today to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“In listening to the evidence in this matter, I do find that defendant was the mastermind in this conspiracy to commit murder,” Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen said in rejecting a defense bid seeking to have Monica Sementilli sentenced to the lesser term of 25 years to life in prison on the conspiracy charge rather than the murder charge on which she was also convicted April 11. “Defendant was the prime mover in this execution of a human being and consequently I am utilizing my discretion to impose the more serious of the sentences.”
The judge said Sementilli’s lover, Robert Baker, “did not have the intelligence to plan such a brutal, well-thought out slaughter.”…