Man gets life in prison for Chinese student’s beating death

LOS ANGELES (AP) – A 21-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for beating to death a University of Southern California graduate student from China who was walking to his off-campus apartment. Andrew Garcia was sentenced Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. He was convicted of first-degree murder and other charges in June. Authorities say 24-year-old Xinran Ji was attacked with a baseball bat and wrench as he walked home after a late-night study session in 2014. Ji’s family wept during the sentencing. His father, Songbo Ji, sobbed as he told the court in Mandarin that his son was killed viciously. Garcia was the second of four defendants to go to trial. A young woman was convicted of the murder last year, and two more defendants await trial. Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.