By Andy Furillo
afurillo@sacbee.com
Glenn Wade Jennings was sentenced to death today for the June 2, 2004, robbery murder of liquor store owner Kulwant Sufi, a 61-year-old immigrant from India who was stabbed 11 times by by the parolee who had just gotten out of prison two months earlier.
"Mrs. Sufi, at 5-foot-3, never had a chance against the bigger, stronger, laser-focused defendant," Sacramento Superior Court Judge Maryanne G. Gilliard said from the bench before imposing the death term on Jennings.
Jennings had previously served two prison terms for robbery, including his most recent 16-count case for which he had been behind bars for 23 years.
Sufi's son and husband testified at the sentencing hearing that their lives have been devastated by her death and absence.
"You can't even talk about it, it's so unbelievable," said her son, Gurminderajit Sufi, a Sacramento dentist.
The burly, 6-foot, 240-pound Jennings, 57, submitted a six-page, single-spaced statement for the sentencing in which he said he was innocent. He described himself in the statement as "the lamb led to the slaughter."
Deputy District Attorney Rick Miller countered that "I disagree with I would say about 99 percent of the statements" in Jennings' letter to the court.
Jennings was captured on videotape assaulting and stabbing the victim, then stealing the cash register from behind the counter of DK Discount Liquor on Florin Road. The register was later recovered from a vacant lot near Jennings' Oak Park home. A steak knife recovered from the store matched a set found in his house and fiber evidence recovered from his car matched items found at the crime scene.
When Jennings is transferred to San Quentin Prison, he will be the 714th condemned California inmate to take up residence on death row.
Call The Bee's Andy Furillo, (916) 321-1141.
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