RIVERSIDE, CA — A 25-year-old man who fatally beat his wife during a domestic confrontation in their Moreno Valley home was bound for state prison Wednesday to serve a sentence of 15 years to life behind bars after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.
Kendrick Lavare Govan admitted the felony charge under a pretrial agreement Tuesday with the Riverside County District Attorney's Office. In exchange for Govan's admission, prosecutors reduced the original first-degree murder allegation.
During a hearing at the Riverside Hall of Justice, Superior Court Judge Juan Dominguez certified the terms of the plea agreement and imposed the sentence required by state law.
The defendant was arrested in July following a sheriff's Central Homicide Unit investigation into the death of 27-year-old Tianah Govan.
According to Sgt. Alberto Loureiro, the defendant and his spouse were involved in an unspecified dispute just after 8 p.m. on June 30 at their apartment in the 21000 block of Box Springs Road, near Morton Road.
During the conflict, Kendrick Govan fatally assaulted the victim, Loureiro alleged.
No weapon allegation was included in the criminal complaint.
The defendant apparently called 911 after his wife fell unconscious.
Loureiro said patrol deputies and paramedics reached the location a short time later and attempted resuscitative measures, but Tianah Govan was pronounced dead at the scene.
Detectives questioned the defendant, after which he was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Banning jail.
He had no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
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