Los Angeles CBS Local
May 10, 2015
A man who killed his girlfriend and her mother in their Redondo Beach apartment three years ago was sentenced Friday to two consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The sentence was handed down to Jonathan Scott Chacon, 26, who was convicted by a jury April 9 of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 19-year-old Courtney Bergman and her 59-year-old mother, Vicki Bergman.
The judge added an extra two years to Chacon’s sentence for using a knife in the deadly attacks.
Chacon slit the throats of his girlfriend and his mother inside the apartment in the 1900 block of Rockefeller Lane. Prosecutors suggested he killed them because he was jealous of his girlfriend’s contacts with another man.
Chacon insisted the killings were in self-defense, alleging that his girlfriend attacked him with a knife shortly after they had sex in the apartment. He contended that her mother came out of her room during that time.
The couple’s 2-year-old son was in a bedroom of the apartment at the time of the killings.
At times during the sentencing hearing, Chacon bounced in his chair and bobbed his head. The judge said it appeared that Chacon was singing a song in his head as the victims’ friends and relatives spoke in court.
“He is as soul-less as it comes,” Judge Steven Van Sicklen said. “He has absolutely no remorse.”
Chacon even laughed when Wendy Hess — Vicki Bergman’s friend and the person who found the bodies — finished speaking.
“I know there can be no real justice here for Vicki and Courtney,” Hess said. “Each died a terrifying, violent and painful death, and he is still here on Earth. Your honor, I implore you to send Chacon to the most uncomfortable place possible. If he is not sent to the hell he belongs in right now, may he live a hell on Earth until our Lord sends him to his real punishment of everlasting fire.”