Man sentenced to 26 years to life for fatally stabbing girlfriend in Garden Grove – Orange County Register

SANTA ANA — A 55-year-old man was sentenced Friday to 26 years to life in prison for fatally stabbing his girlfriend at a Garden Grove motel nearly three years ago.

Kennedy Anthony Audain was convicted on July 11 of first-degree murder, with an enhanced sentence for personal use of a knife.

The jury deliberated for about three hours before convicting Audain of the July 14, 2021, murder of 50-year-old Leticia Mahe of Santa Ana.

Audain killed the victim just before 5:45 a.m. at a Motel 6 at 12091 Trask Ave., according to a court filing by Deputy District Attorney Harris Siddiq.

The prosecutor argued in court documents that the defendant was not eligible for probation because “he used a weapon, caused bodily harm, actively participated in the crime, had a history of a pattern of frequent or increasingly serious behavior, showed no remorse, and would pose a danger to the community if not incarcerated.”

Mahe called 911 and said the suspect was holding her captive at knifepoint, Siddiq said.

An officer dispatched to the motel saw the suspect pacing back and forth in the room through a window, “yelling and screaming,” Siddiq said.

The suspect then threw clothes from a laundry basket onto the bed, after which he saw flames and heard the smoke alarm go off, the prosecutor said.

When officers knocked on the door, no one answered. But a short time later they managed to get in with a master key and were able to arrest Audain. His clothes were covered in blood, Siddiq said.

Mahe suffered multiple stab wounds to her abdomen, upper body, neck, head, back and arms, Siddiq said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to court records, an expert testified that the defendant has “extremely low intellectual capacity” and a “traumatic brain injury, which likely also contributed to his limited cognitive capacity.”

According to the expert, the suspect’s intoxication caused by methamphetamine use also influenced his decision-making.

Audain was on probation at the time of the stabbing. He pleaded guilty on June 7, 2021, to assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, and contempt of court for ignoring a restraining order, all misdemeanors, and was sentenced to 76 days in jail.

Audain previously pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of stalking on April 25, 2019, and was sentenced to 210 days in jail and placed on three years of formal probation. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of resisting an officer and a misdemeanor count of criminal threats on October 2, 2018, and was sentenced to 90 days in jail and placed on three years of formal probation.