Trini woman gets life for murder in US

A Trinidad woman was sentenced to life in prison in San Francisco, United States, on Monday with no hope of parole for gunning down a man she mistakenly blamed for molesting her granddaughter.

Dianna Mae Preston, 59, said Monday, “I easily pay this price” as she was ordered to jail for the slaying last July 19 of Kevin LaPorta, 47, the little girl’s father. Preston waited for LaPorta outside his Eureka acupuncture office and shot him several times as he loaded his dogs into his truck. He managed to stagger into a nearby restaurant, but Preston followed him inside, reloaded and shot him twice more in the head. Testimony revealed that Preston was told by her daughter, Heather Pearce, 38, just hours before the killing, that the Eureka Police Department told her DNA evidence found on the  toddler did not belong to LaPorta.

Preston was convicted of the murder with a special allegation of lying in wait by a Napa County jury May 28. The trial was moved to Napa County when Humboldt County Superior Court Judge  Timothy Cissna decided Preston couldn’t get a fair trial on the North Coast. “In an unfortunate case such as this there’s one victim but there are so, so many losers,” Cissna said before handing down the sentence. “There are no winners.”