LOS ANGELES—An ex-convict who was found guilty of stalking his estranged wife, breaking into her North Hollywood home, and abducting her in 2021 was sentenced Friday to 89 years to life in state prison.
Anthony John Duarte, 58, was convicted March 13 by a downtown Los Angeles jury of 20 counts, including stalking with a restraining order in place, kidnapping, injuring a spouse, first-degree residential burglary, first-degree residential robbery, witness intimidation with a prior, vandalism and grand theft of a firearm.
In a sentencing memorandum, Deputy District Attorney Ranna Jahanshahi wrote that Mr. Duarte has “suffered a myriad of prior convictions which are escalating in violence and severity,” and noted that he has engaged in a series of violent acts against other women—one dating back as far as the 1980s.
Mr. Duarte was released from prison in late December 2020, just months before the April 2021 abduction of his estranged wife, who has since divorced him, according to the prosecutor.
Within hours of being released on bond in August 2021 while the case against him was pending, Mr. Duarte attacked his estranged wife again, the deputy district attorney said.
Mr. Duarte was subsequently taken into custody in October 2021 in the San Diego area by a fugitive apprehension team headed by the U.S. Marshals Service, and has remained behind bars since then, the prosecutor said.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Eleanor Hunter—who imposed the sentence—denied the defense’s motion to strike his two prior strikes for kidnapping and witness intimidation, along with denying Mr. Duarte’s motion for a new trial, according to the deputy district attorney.
