LOS ANGELES – A day laborer was sentenced to two consecutive life terms Friday for stabbing to death an elderly North Hollywood couple in a robbery that netted less than $100.
Israel Cabrera Pulido, 25, of Sylmar was sentenced to life without possibility of parole and ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution.
Superior Court Judge Barry A. Taylor said it was "one of the most terrible cases I've ever heard." He called the killings "baffling," noting that Pulido had no previous criminal record.
He denied a defense request for a new trial.
A jury deliberated three hours Wednesday before convicting Pulido of first-degree murder, robbery and burglary.
During trial, a police detective said Pulido admitted killing Eugenia and Sabato Russo, both 73, on Nov. 22, 2000.
Pulido met the Russos several weeks before the murders when he helped refinish floors in their home, which was a few blocks from their popular local eatery, Sabatino's Italian Restaurant and Bakery.
Prosecutors said he returned on Nov. 22 with a knife, robbed the couple, then beat and stabbed them. Eugenia Russo was beaten and stabbed 17 times, and her husband was stabbed 15 times, prosecutors said.
Pulido got away with less than $100, a bracelet and a collector coin, authorities said.
Police later found about $20,000 that the couple had kept under their sofa cushions, and also discovered a box of toys that Sabato Russo had been saving for Pulido's children, prosecutor Dmitry Gorin said.
"I hope you rot in a living hell," the couple's daughter, Rosanna Tolino, told Pulido.
His attorney, Irene Nunez, called it a "very tragic case" and said those who knew Pulido described him as a hard worker and a good husband and father.
