CALIFORNIA CITY, Calif. (KERO) — An appeals court upheld the murder and child abuse convictions of Trezell and Jacqueline West in the deaths of their adopted sons in California City, but the couple will now face resentencing.
The judges ruled the murder and child abuse charges are based on the same act, and the law prevents punishing someone multiple times for the same crime. The court also threw out a lesser involuntary manslaughter conviction in both cases because it is a lesser included offense of murder.
A judge will now decide which punishment to suspend. A date for the resentencing hearing is not yet set.
Prosecutors alleged the couple killed 4-year-old Orrin and 3-year-old Orson and disposed of their bodies months before reporting them missing. The boys disappeared in 2020.
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