Victim’s Son Attacks Convicted Killer

SAN FERNANDO â€”  A white supremacist’s sentencing for murder turned ugly Wednesday when the victim’s 19-year-old son attacked the defendant in court.

Defendant Christopher Dehuff stared at the ground as Christopher Wageman expressed grief over the loss of his mother, who was killed when the defendant slammed a stolen van into her van as he fled police, authorities said.

“The suspect was ignoring him, so he became mad and yelled a profanity at the suspect,� Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Ed Dvorak said. “The suspect kept ignoring him, so he picked up a microphone and threw it at him.�

It missed the defendant by 3 feet, Dvorak said.

Wageman then charged Dehuff, but two deputies intervened, wrestling him to the ground before he got to his intended target, Dvorak said. Wageman was charged with assault, battery and causing a disturbance in a public setting, all misdemeanors.

Judge Shari K. Silver called a brief recess to let tempers cool before sentencing Dehuff, 20, to the maximum of 21 1/2 years to life in prison.

He will serve 18 years before becoming eligible for parole.

A jury convicted Dehuff of second-degree murder, evading police, auto theft, receiving stolen property and driving without a license.

“I thought the sentence was appropriate,� Deputy Dist. Atty. David Mintz said. “He gambled with the lives of everyone that night and as a result, he took a wife from her husband, a mother from her children and forced a little girl to grow up without ever getting a chance to meet her grandmother.�

Dehuff’s lawyer could not be reached for comment.

Mintz said motorcycle officers decided to stop Dehuff, a member of the San Fernando Valley Peckerwoods who had the words “White Power� tattooed across his arms, when they saw him weaving on Van Nuys Boulevard the night of Oct. 14, 1997. They thought he was drunk.

Instead of stopping, Dehuff fled, running a stop sign and at least two red lights and driving without headlights.

He was going 75 mph when he entered the intersection of Sepulveda Boulevard and Lassen Street and broadsided the victim’s van, which erupted in flames.

He said police pulled 26-year-old Rebecca Wageman out of the burning van, but her mother, 44-year-old Linda Wageman, was partly pinned between the van and the asphalt and could not be saved.

Before sentencing, Dehuff expressed remorse for the death, saying he was under the influence of drugs at the time.

After he cooled down, Christopher Wageman told deputies he became upset when the suspect wouldn’t look at him, and he apologized to authorities for losing his cool.

“It appears [Wageman] got totally emotionally involved and just lost it,� Dvorak said.