Posted by Jennifer Sullivan
It took a King County jury only about a day to find Randall Conner guilty last month of stabbing to death his girlfriend in Kent in 2007
On Wednesday, Conner was sentenced to 32 years in prison for the first-degree murder of Merianne Lorentson, a personal trainer, aspiring model and mother.
Lorentson, 24, lived in fear of Connor, a man whom Lorentson was reportedly trying to break up with in the last days of her life, according to court filings. She had complained to friends that Connor was abusive and allegedly had assaulted her and threatened her at gunpoint, according to court charging papers.
In the days before her death she made a pact with a close friend -- if a day went by and she didn't call, then the friend should contact police.
After not hearing from Lorentson for more than a day, the friend called the manager of her Kent apartment complex on March 9, 2007. The manager found her body on her living-room floor. According to police, she had been stabbed more than 30 times.
Connor was quickly considered the lead suspect, but police said they needed time for DNA and other evidence to be processed. When Connor was charged with her slaying in 2008, he was in prison in California for violating the terms of his parole on an armed-robbery charge.
During Conner's trial, King County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Cheryl Snow portrayed him as a bully who overpowered the slim model. She said that the 6-foot-4 Connor was a muscular 250 pounds at the time of Lorentson's slaying. Snow said police found no defensive wounds on the much smaller victim.
"Marianne Lorentson was completely overpowered. She offered little to no resistance to her killer," Snow told jurors.
But defense attorney Don Minor criticized the prosecution for lacking enough evidence to prove that Conner was responsible for the slaying. Minor said DNA from at least one other person was also found in Lorentson's apartment and that Lorentson had been dating another man.
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