A man convicted of fatally shooting his 68-year-old wife at their Canyon Country home and then killing his ailing 59-year-old sister at a North Hills nursing facility was sentenced on Wednesday to 100 years to life in state prison.
Superior Court Judge Hayden Zacky — who heard the case after Lance Anderson waived his right to a jury trial — found the 63-year-old man guilty July 19 of two counts of first-degree murder for the Dec. 11, 2013, killings of his wife, Bertha Anderson, and his sister, Lisa Nave.
The judge also found true an allegation that Anderson intentionally discharged a firearm causing death.
Deputy District Attorney Julie Kramer argued in court that Anderson tried to control both women and killed the two in an ultimate form of control.
Anderson shot his sister in the head in bed at Country Villa Sheraton Convalescent and Rehabilitation Hospital, according to police.
The woman was able to breathe on her own, but was unable to move and had to be fed through a feeding tube, according to Ricardo Santiago of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Anderson set the gun down, walked into a patio area and waited for police to arrive, according to police.
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Upon hearing what had happened at the nursing facility, Nave's family became concerned about Anderson's wife, police said. Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies found Bertha Anderson dead at the couple's home.
Anderson told detectives that his wife was depressed, had anxiety and was having trouble adjusting to menopause, according to Santiago.
