Los Angeles man sentenced in stabbing death

A Los Angeles man was sentenced to state prison on April 20, 2007, for the 2005 stabbing death of a 65-year-old Burbank man, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Nathan Lee Hall, 51, was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences plus five years for killing Jurgen Hapke.

A jury convicted Hall in February 2007 of one count of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree attempted murder.

On Dec. 14, 2005, Hall drove into a parking garage in the 9300 block of Wilshire Boulevard, where Hapke and his business partner of more than 40 years, Helmut Mende, were painting the exterior of a Wells Fargo bank branch.

Hall got out of his car, pulled a knife and began stabbing Mende, 71, according to authorities. Hapke tried to intervene but was fatally stabbed. Hall then got into his car and drove off. Hapke was transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Hall, who was arrested at his Los Angeles home in December 2005, was mistakenly released from jail on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2006, despite being detained on a no-bail parole hold and with an arraignment on murder charges scheduled for the following Tuesday. He was recaptured Jan. 31, when his sister went to the Beverly Hills Police Department seeking to have his impounded car returned. Officers found Hall in the police station's parking lot waiting for his sister.

-- Maloy Moore