Perez Sentenced in Desmond Killing

Redondo Beach resident Tony Lopez Perez received a sentence of 25 years to life in prison in connection with the slaying of Torrance resident Cori Desmond, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported Monday afternoon.

Perez, 34, was in San Bernardino County of first-degree murder after less than a day of deliberations.

On Monday, Perez apologized in court.

"I should have thought before I acted," he said, according to the Press-Enterprise. "I should have stepped back and cleared my head ... Words cannot begin to explain how sorry I am … My very deepest apologies, both to the Desmond family and to my family."

According to prosecutors, Perez strangled and smothered Desmond, 28, while trying to rape her outside a bar in Redondo Beach in February 2009. He then dumped her body in the San Bernardino Mountains.