A former Inglewood teacher has been convicted of murdering one woman and kidnapping and then sexually assaulting another nearly two decades ago, prosecutors said.
Charles Wright, 58, is expected to be sentenced to 50 years to life in state prison, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.
“I am pleased that this day has finally come for the victims of this horrendous crime,” Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement. “It is particularly egregious that these crimes were committed by someone who held a position of trust and authority. This conviction sends a clear message that we will not tolerate violence in our community.”
Wright, then a high school teacher in the Inglewood Unified School District, was arrested in early 2022 after DNA and fingerprint evidence linked him to the murder of Pertina Epps. The 21-year-old was found strangled in a garage in Gardena on the evening of April 26, 2005.
Her murder remained unsolved for years, until homicide investigators with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department… reviewed the case in 2021 and resubmitted some of the evidence for forensic testing.
When new technology produced results matching Wright's, the Sheriff's Department obtained a warrant to arrest the Hawthorne man.
Wright later denied any involvement, telling The Times in 2022 that his fingerprints were only on the woman's handbag because he had been selling bags and other clothing from the boot of his car.
“I didn't do this,” he said, without explaining the DNA allegations. He added that he had quit his job as a teacher to fight the case.
When his case went to trial, Wright also faced charges for the 2006 kidnapping and sexual assault of an 18-year-old woman whom the district attorney's office did not identify in a statement Friday.
On Wednesday, he was found guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping for the purpose of oral copulation and forcible oral copulation, prosecutors said. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 10.
