USC student murders: 2nd defendant sentenced to life in prison without parole

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Javier Bolden, who was convicted in the 2012 murders of two USC graduate students from China, has been sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen A. Marcus imposed the sentence Monday morning for what he says is "truly one of the saddest cases" he has ever presided over.

Ming Qu and Ying Wu, both 23-year-old engineering graduate students, were shot to death during an attempted robbery on April 11, 2012. The victims were sitting in a car on the 2700 block of Raymond Avenue, about a mile from the University of Southern California campus. They were killed a month before they were to graduate.

The parents of the two victims flew in from China for Bolden's sentencing hearing. Wanzhi Qu, Ming Qu's father, spoke to the court through an interpreter, calling Bolden and his partner in the crime "human trash who did nothing more than to cause trouble to our families.

"We have cried out to anyone and everyone, yet nobody has answered," said Qu. "And the injustice we have suffered is as deep as the ocean."

Judge Marcus noted that Bolden was making faces while Qu was speaking.

"The truth is, Mr. Bolden, that you just don't get it," said Marcus. "You were found responsible for destroying three lives."

The third life the judge referred to is Deionce Davance, who is brain-dead. Investigators say that Bolden and accomplice Bryan Barnes had teamed up, shooting Davance and others at a party weeks before they set out to rob the USC students.

"You shot an unarmed man, and because of your actions, he is in a living hell, which is shared by his family members and friends," said Marcus.

Bolden, 22, and co-defendant Bryan Barnes were arrested on May 18, 2012. Barnes pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder earlier this year and was sentenced to two consecutive terms of life in prison without possibility of parole, avoiding the death penalty.

Bolden was recorded confessing to the killings by a cellmate who was a police informant. Bolden discussed in the recording how he and a friend had planned to steal the couple's BMW. His attorney claims Bolden was lying in order to appear tough.

Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty for Bolden.