Avant Murder Is Evidence Of A Broken Justice System: Gascón

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Aariel Maynor was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison with a minimum of 150 years after he pleaded guilty to murder in the shooting death of Jacqueline Avant, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Maynor, 30, was sentenced to an additional 40 years for other crimes. Maynor is ineligible for parole, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said in a news conference Tuesday.

"There was never any doubt that we were going to pursue this case rigorously," Gascón said. He added: "This case shocked us all."

The judge called Maynor a "serious danger to society," noting that Avant was "a completely vulnerable victim."

Maynor pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges in December. On March 3, he pleaded guilty to one count each of murder, attempted murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of residential burglary with a person present.

Avant was fatally shot during a home invasion around 2 a.m. on Dec. 1 at her Beverly Hills house in the 1100 block of Maytor Place. She was taken to Cedars-Sanai Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead, police said.

The crime is particularly disturbing considering Maynor's seeming lack of remorse, which also displays the necessity for such a sentence, Gascón said.

During the sentencing hearing, Deputy District Attorney Victor Avila played audio from a pair of telephone calls Maynor made from jail in the weeks following his arrest. In one call, he is heard talking to a female friend, laughing about the shooting and saying, "I'm all over the news."

Maynor is a perfect example of how the county's criminal justice system fails to protect residents, Gascón said at Tuesday's news conference.

Maynor has been "in and out of the [criminal justice] system since he was 12 years old," Gascón said. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathryn Solorzano noted earlier that a report indicated a 2013 robbery for which Maynor had been convicted involved a woman who was kicked in the face and knocked unconscious.

She also noted Tuesday that Maynor had been released on parole for a 2018 robbery in September 2021, just a few months before Avant's killing.

"The criminal legal system is broken, we all know it," Gascón said. "This case highlights the futility in our system. We can punish a Mr. Maynor but never do the things that would perhaps have lead to a different outcome."

A less punitive approach that offers offenders support resources to facilitate safe reentry into society would help avoid similar situations, he said.

"Right now people go to prison and in essence they get a degree in crime. It's no surprise that the outcomes make us less safe. We need to ensure that we provide the resources necessary for treatment, support both inside and outside the prison systems and that we facilitate reentry in a way that makes us all safe," Gascón said.

City News Service Contributed to this report.