After Orange County Superior Court Judge Kazuharu Makino handed down his sentence, Shields asked for a new trial, claiming his attorney was incompetent. The judge denied the motion.
"All I can ask is that he's never let out of jail so he can't hurt anyone else again," the mother of one of the victims told the judge before he handed down the sentence.
"I really believe he deserves the death penalty, but that's not available, so I have to settle for the maximum sentence," Deputy District Attorney Heather Brown said outside the courtroom. "He deserves every second he got."
