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Two men were convicted and sentenced to death for the infamous 1980 robbery and massacre in which employees and customers were locked in a freezer and shot in the back inside Bob’s Big Boy restaurant in Los Angeles. One of them has started a legal effort to keep him behind bars. Sentences may be commuted and once-convicted prisoners may be eligible for parole.
Ricardo Rene Sanders, 79, is seeking resentencing under a recent state law that allows judges to reconsider sentences for a variety of reasons, Los Angeles Superior Court records show.
“I can’t believe Congress intended this outcome,” said Harvey Guice, a now-retired prosecutor who tried cases against Sanders and two co-defendants in 1981 and 1982. .
The recidivism effort and a series of hearings earlier this year are documented in the court docket, but there are few filings that provide insight into the basis on which Sanders requested reductions, objections and support from prosecutors.
Sanders’ appointed attorney, the federal public defender’s office, has not filed any of the counterclaims listed in publicly available court documents and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in an email Wednesday that the office opposes Sanders’ efforts.
“We oppose the defense’s request for a life sentence with the possibility of parole,” the DA’s office said in a statement.
If Sanders’ sentence is commuted to life in prison with parole, he would likely be eligible for an immediate parole hearing because of his age, officials said.
The freezer murders occurred on December 14, 1980 at Bob’s Big Boy Restaurant on La Cienega Boulevard, which no longer exists.
Around 2 a.m., two men armed with shotguns and at least one handgun entered the building, saying, “It’s a jack, it’s a stickup,” according to court records.
The men locked two customers and nine employees in a freezer and stole cash, watches and jewelry before telling them to kneel against a wall.
“The two men then fired their guns into the back of the group until they ran out of ammunition. They then closed the freezer door and left,” the appellate court’s case summary states, adding that the men then fired their guns into the restaurant’s safe. He said he fled with about $1,300.
One customer and two employees (David Burrell, Dita Aghtani and Ahmad Mushuk) died at the scene.
Another employee, Cesario Luna, died several months later from a gunshot wound to the brain. Luna’s son, Ismael, also works as a busboy at the restaurant and witnessed his father being shot.
Four others suffered shotgun and gunshot wounds, some with debilitating wounds, but the remaining two were physically unharmed.
Los Angeles Police Department arrested Sanders, Franklin Freeman Jr. and Karlesa Stewart about a week after the robbery. Sanders’ defense has unsuccessfully challenged a number of appeals, as detectives said he was identified by survivors and other witnesses to the shooting.
Mr. Sanders was convicted of four counts of murder with special circumstances and sentenced to death.
Freeman was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his role in the murders.
Police said Stewart took part in the robbery plan, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
A retrial hearing was scheduled for Friday at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles. However, the case was postponed by the court late Wednesday and will now be heard on January 22, 2024.
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