A former prison inmate who was convicted of strangling a retired Hollywood High School teacher with whom he had begun corresponding while he was behind bars for killing a man in New York was sentenced today to 56 years to life in state prison.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry imposed the term on Scott Kratlian, 46, who was found guilty last month of the Feb. 10, 2014, killing of Harry Major, an 82-year-old former English instructor. The victim's body was found in a bathtub at his apartment in the 1400 block of North Vista Street in the Hollywood area.
Deputy District Attorney Tony Cho told jurors that Salvatorre Caggiano — the 66-year-old man Kratlian admitted to killing in New York in 1992 — was killed "in almost the same way" and both victims were left naked or nearly naked in a bathroom.
The victim in New York was about 40 years older than Kratlian — about the same age difference between Major and Kratlian, the prosecutor said.
"He targets older men that are about 40 years older than he is," Cho told jurors.
The prosecutor said the two cases were "incredibly consistent" and "basically unique."
"It's almost like the defendant's signature," he said.
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Kratlian and Major engaged in sexual relations after Kratlian arrived in Los Angeles, and things went "sour" after a fight between the defendant and another man who was visiting Major, Cho said.
The prosecutor said there was a "very clear picture" of the defendant walking out of a 7-Eleven store, where $200 had been withdrawn via Major's credit card from an ATM on Feb. 10, 2014, and that $100 was withdrawn at a liquor store a few minutes earlier. Numerous other attempts were also made to withdraw money, Cho told jurors.
Kratlian — who was arrested eight days after the killing — admitted to police that he had been involved in a physical altercation with Major on Feb. 10, 2014, according to the prosecutor.
"He basically admits to everything short of killing Mr. Major and taking his credit card and using it," Cho told the panel.
Defense attorney Angela Cheung contended that investigators stopped probing Major's killing once they learned that Kratlian had pleaded guilty to manslaughter in New York.
Kratlian's lawyer conceded that her client had used Major's credit card.
"But does that make him the killer of Mr. Harry Major?" she asked jurors.
She questioned why Kratlian would return to the scene of the crime after using the credit card if he was the person who killed Major.
Cheung told jurors that surveillance video showed Kratlian "walking, not running, not looking over his shoulder," saying those were "not the actions of someone who just murdered Mr. Harry Major in cold blood."
She said a small amount of blood belonging to Major that was later found on one of Kratlian's shoes was consistent with the "minor struggle" described by her client.
The defense attorney argued the prosecution's case centered on circumstantial evidence.
One of Major's longtime friends, Susan Emmanule, told the judge that the court had heard about one side of the victim, and that she wanted Perry to know that there was another side. She noted that he was a "very dear friend of mine" and that his former students had kept in touch with him over the years.
"He still had a lot of life in him," she said.
The judge refused the defense's request to strike Kratlian's prior strike for manslaughter, which doubled his term on the murder sentence.
Perry noted that the defendant had a "troubled history."
"It's a very sad situation, but this case is sad," Perry said.
