Venice : Killer Avoids Death Penalty

An Oakwood man convicted last month of murdering a Venice free-lance writer in her apartment in 1990 has been spared the death penalty.

A Santa Monica Superior Court jury instead voted Friday to sentence Kermis (Taffy) Thompson Jr. to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Formal sentencing is scheduled for July 2.

Thompson, 30, was found guilty of killing Stephanie Bernstein in April, 1990, under circumstances that warranted consideration of the death penalty, namely that the murder took place during the commission of an attempted rape. Jurors said the special circumstances were not enough to justify the death penalty, according to a spokesman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Prosecutors contended that Thompson entered Bernstein’s apartment with the intent to rape her. Thompson’s defense attorneys said he killed her in a drunken rage after she blurted out a racial epithet.