POMONA, CA — A man who was working as an overnight caregiver was sentenced Thursday to two consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole for strangling two women within less than an hour at an assisted living facility in Diamond Bar.
Jianchun Li, 44, was convicted Aug. 20 of two counts of first-degree murder, with the jury finding true the special-circumstance allegation of multiple murders. The charges stemmed from the June 24, 2023, killings of 75- year-old Monica Moon Lee and 83-year-old Hee Sook Park in a bathroom at a care facility in the 23800 block of Sapphire Canyon Road.
Last week, jurors found that Li was sane at the time of the killings.
In court Thursday in Pomona, Superior Court Judge Mike Camacho denied a defense motion for a new trial in the sanity phase of the case. Camacho then handed down the back-to-back sentences of life without the chance of parole.
According to prosecutors, the defendant ushered Lee — who used a walker — to a bathroom, placed a plastic bag over her head, wrapped electrical tape around her neck and strangled her shortly before 7 a.m. that day.
He subsequently took Park to the same bathroom and killed her in the same manner 30 minutes later, according to the District Attorney's Office.
The women were pronounced dead at the scene.
"Three years ago, Monica Moon Lee and Hee Sook Park's lives were brutally taken by Jianchun Li, the very person expected to keep them safe," District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement released about the case. "I thank the jury for holding Li responsible and finding him sane when he made the decision to kill two vulnerable women who were entrusted to his care. ... Justice was served and Li will be held fully accountable for his horrific and senseless crimes."
By Terri Vermeulen Keith, City News Service
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