Co-conspirator in prominent LA hairdresser's death sentenced to 16 years to life
The third person connected to the 2017 Woodland Hills murder of famed hairdresser Fabio Sementilli was sentenced on Tuesday to 16 years to life in prison.
Christopher Austin, 39, pleaded no contest in January to second-degree murder in a plea deal reached with prosecutors.
Austin was part of the trio that killed Fabio Sementilli and served as a key prosecution witness in the trial of Sementilli's wife, Monica.
Last month, jurors found Monica Sementilli guilty of first-degree murder, and that the 53-year-old masterminded the stabbing death of her husband for financial gain.
Her lover, Robert Louis Baker, now 63, was sentenced to life in prison in 2023 for stabbing and killing Fabio Sementilli in his own home. He had pleaded no contest to one count each of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. He also admitted the special circumstance allegations of murder for financial gain and murder while lying in wait.
The prosecution said that the two lovers conspired to kill him, with plans to obtain the husband's life insurance proceeds, around $1.6 million.
Baker, a convicted sex offender and former adult movie actor, testified as part of the defense that his lover had nothing to do with the planning or the murder of her husband. He said he murdered his lover's husband because he "wanted her to be around me and with me more -- like all the time."
Baker had solicited Austin to assist him in killing Fabio Sementilli.
Austin testified that his longtime friend, Baker, told him that Monica Sementilli wanted her husband dead, but Austin said that he did not personally speak to her about the crime. He told jurors that he and Baker stabbed the hairdresser to death after Monica Sementilli left the home unlocked.
Fabio Sementilli was an established hairdresser who served as vice president of education for Wella, the salon professional division of Procter and Gamble.
Fabio Sementilli was 49 years old when he died. He and Monica Sementilli had two daughters together.
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