Widow Forgives Ex-Marine Before Drug Murder Sentence

The widow of a Camp Pendleton Marine today said she forgives the man convicted of murdering her husband.

After listening to statements from the families of both the murder accessory and the victim, an Orange County judge sentenced former Marine Christian William Carney to 28 years and eight months to life in prison for his role in the May 13, 2008, murder of Stephen Serrano, a fellow Marine.

On Dec. 20, a jury convicted Carney, 25, of killing Serrano over $110 that Serrano had allegedly stolen. In addition to murder, Carney, formerly of Manorville, NY, was convicted of making criminal threats and attempting to dissuade a witness.

Before pronouncing sentence in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana this morning, the judge heard victim impact statements.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh read the following statement from Serrano’s mother, Christl McKenney:

“I remember May 13, 2008, as if it were yesterday, probably because it plays in my mind at least three times a day since then. That was the beginning of the end for me. People ask me how I get by every morning. I push myself to live for the living and my family.”

Baytieh told the judge that McKenney wanted a picture of her son in his Marine dress uniform added to the exhibits. The judge agreed.

After the statement from Serrano’s mother, Sophia Serrano, the victim’s widow, spoke to the court about the loss of her husband, breaking into tears a number of times.

“He didn’t get to see his son being born,” Sophia Serrano said. “He wasn’t there for his first birthday. He wasn’t there for the first day of school. He’s never going to be there. Only in spirit."

At one point, while she spoke, Baytieh touched her arm to comfort her and then she said, “This whole process has made me sick, has made my life flip upside-down and made [it] a struggle without having Stephen around us.”

Before sitting back down, she addressed Carney, and said, “I know you made some mistakes, and I do want to tell you that I do forgive you.”

Carney looked at Sophia Serrano momentarily and returned to staring straight ahead. During the sentencing, Carney showed no emotion for most of the proceedings.

During the trial, Baytieh painted Carney as an emotionless killer, a man who shot Serrano without care and left his body in a ditch by a road in San Clemente.

Defense Attorney Kay Rackauckas argued that the deputy DA had it wrong: Carney’s friend, former Marine and current co-defendant, 24-year-old Alvin Reed Lovely, had been the one who shot Serrano.

Lovely is still awaiting trial for his alleged part in the killing.

According to the district attorney's allegations, Carney drove with Lovely and Serrano to a hill in San Clemente on the pretense of doing drugs.

After arriving there, the prosecution alleges, Carney shot Serrano in the face and three times in the body, because Serrano had allegedly stolen $110 from him.

Jurors did not find Carney guilty of a sentencing enhancement for the personal discharge of a firearm, meaning they did not find enough evidence to declare him the shooter.

Two days later, a jogger found Serrano’s body in a ditch near Calle Cordillera.

After the statements from McKenney and Sophia Serrano, Defense Attorney Jennifer Keller said Carney’s parents wanted to speak on their son's behalf.

Baytieh objected, and said that victim impact statements involve the victim's family and friends, not Carney's family and friends.

"Today is not their day," Baytieh said.

The judge agreed, but allowed Keller to read a statement from each of Carney's parents.

Carney’s mother, Laura, described her son as a “warm, compassionate and loving soul.”

“He wouldn’t hurt a fly,” Laura Carney said in her statement. “Christian is a good person and I do not believe he is the cold-blooded murderer he is portrayed to be.”

“As a mother, I beg you to have mercy on my son. I beg you to consider a lesser sentence,” she said.

Next, Keller read a statement from Christian’s father, Mark, who said he was deeply sorry for the loss Serrano family had suffered.

“He (Christian) was naïve, he did some stupid things, but, again, he doesn’t deserve to spend the rest of his life in prison. I ask the judge to please take life off of Christian’s sentence."

Keller said Christian felt genuine remorse about his role in Lovely’s alleged shooting of Serrano, and that Christian’s tears on the witness stand “were not an act.”

She added that Carney has cried in front of her over his actions during private discussions with her.

“Unless he’s an Academy Award winning actor and he acts for my benefit as well, that was real,” Keller said.

Keller said Carney would not be speaking.

After the defense’s statements, Baytieh said he doesn’t normally speak during sentencing, but he felt it necessary to respond to the statements of Carney’s parents and Keller.

Baytieh said Carney had lied all the way through the trial and though the jury found he did not fire the weapon in the incident, Carney is still a “cold-blooded murderer” for his role in Serrano’s death.

“My view of this defendant has not changed,” Baytieh said. “He deserves every second of that sentence, the people submit.”

After all the statements had been read, Judge William Froeberg sentenced Carney.

“The court takes no pleasure in the imposition of this sentence," Froeberg said. “There are no winners, only losers, in this case.

“It definitely concerns the court that Marines are killing each other,” he said. “They can survive the war in Iraq, but apparently they cannot survive the war on drugs.

“The moral, if there is any to this story, is possession and use of recreational drugs is not a victimless crime," the judge said. "We have two families ripped apart over a couple of hundred dollars. It borders on insanity.”

Carney is seeking an appeal.

Lovely, Carney’s co-defendant, is charged with one felony count of murder, one felony count of criminal threats, and a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a firearm.

If convicted, Lovely, 24, of Dallas, faces a maximum sentence of 38 years to life in state prison.

He is scheduled for a pretrial trial setting conference May 18.