By Daily Press Staff Writer
A man sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for strangling a 21-year-old Santa Monica woman he lured with promises of getting her a part in a “James Bond” movie had his appeal turned down Friday by the California Supreme Court.
Victor Paleologus pleaded guilty to killing Kristine Johnson on Feb. 15, 2003.
In October, he tried to appeal his sentence, but a three-justice panel of the Appellate Court noted he had waived his right to appeal when he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder midway through his trial in 2006.
The high court announced it would not consider his petition for review.
The plea spared him from a possible death sentence. He unsuccessfully tried to withdraw his guilty plea before being sentenced in September 2006, saying his attorney, Andrew Flier, pressured him into pleading guilty — an accusation the lawyer vehemently denied.
Johnson’s body was found in a Hollywood Hills ravine about three weeks after she told her roommate she had met a man at the Century City shopping mall and planned to see him about a part in a “James Bond” action-type movie.
Paleologus was arrested in May 2003 for the woman’s murder and has been behind bars since then.
Prosecutors said he had previously been convicted of a half-dozen crimes, including assault with intent to commit rape.
During a trial that lasted more than a week, prosecutors said Paleologus approached at least seven women over a 12-year period and asked them to audition for a minor, but very lucrative role in an upcoming film.
There was no film. The offer was merely a ruse so that Paleologus could get the women alone, rape them and kill them, prosecutors said.
The act almost worked on several occasions, but the women were able to fight their way free from his clutches, all except for Johnson, a trusting Michigan transplant who was attending Santa Monica College.
She was found partially covered by a sleeping bag, her hands and feet bound by shoe laces, her face badly decomposed. It is believed she was killed several weeks before her body was discovered.
Her disappearance gained national attention as Terry Hall, Johnson’s mother, pleaded publicly for her daughter’s safe return.
Hall said shortly after the trial that she will forever be haunted by thoughts about her daughter’s final minutes.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 5, 2008. Read the original PDF.