Accomplice Sentenced to Life Term in Slaying

A man was sentenced on Monday to life in prison for helping kill a Denny’s restaurant manager, leaving his widow threatened with deportation because the marriage did not last long enough.

In a Van Nuys courtroom, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Darlene Schempp sentenced the getaway driver, Samuel Martinez, 19, to life without parole after a jury convicted him of murder and robbery charges.

The trigger man and co-defendant, 20-year-old Ruben Lopez, has also been sentenced to life without parole.

“They both got sentenced to what they deserved,” said Jasmine Salehi, whose husband, Cyrus, was fatally shot last year in Reseda despite handing over cash to the robbers. “But at this point it doesn’t make any difference to me. My husband is no longer with me.”

INS officials had said they only would allow Salehi to stay in the country until the prosecution of her husband’s murderers was completed. They sought to deport Salehi because her 1995 marriage to Cyrus, a U.S. citizen, ended short of the two-year deadline required to achieve legal status.

But on Monday, Susan Kennedy, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), said INS Commissioner Doris Meissner has given her assurances that Salehi will be allowed to remain in the country while Feinstein pursues legislation to grant her legal status.