LOS ANGELES — A man was convicted of torturing and killing his girlfriend in West Hollywood two years ago.
Jurors deliberated for less than a day before finding Blake Leibel, 37, guilty of one count each of first-degree murder, aggravated mayhem and torture. The panel also found true the special circumstance allegations of murder involving torture and mayhem.
In May 2016, Leibel murdered his 30-year-old girlfriend, Iana Kasian, at an apartment they shared in West Hollywood. Kasian was tortured and mutilated before she was killed and all of her blood was drained from her body.
Leibel was later arrested at the apartment where he had barricaded himself.
Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said, “Sadism is the gratification obviously from the infliction of pain and suffering on another, and we know that in this case the defendant obviously enjoyed it because he continued to do it for hours and hours.”
Silverman said Leibel committed the horrific crime because he was jealous Kasian’s attention turned to the couple’s newborn daughter.
“The amount of cutting and tearing, the violence involved; that’s a lot of anger because she no longer was making him the number one most important thing in her life.”
He faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole when he is scheduled to be sentenced on June 26.
