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LOS ANGELES (AP) — A woman convicted with her son in the slaying of an elderly New York socialite testified Monday she was innocent of killing a Los Angeles businessman, saying, "I loved that victim." Addressing the family of the slain David Kazdin in the courtroom during her murder trial, Sante Kimes said, "Your father was brilliant." Asked if she ordered the killing of Kazdin, whose body was found in a trash bin near Los Angeles International Airport, she said, "Absolutely not." "He was our dearest friend," Kimes said. "God bless him wherever he is."
Kimes, 69, testifying over the objections of her defense attorney, railed at Deputy District Attorney Eleanor Hunter, declaring, "They call you D.A. Death," and accused her of torturing Sante Kimes' son, Kenneth, to get him to confess. Kenneth Kimes, 29, testified against his mother last week, saying she ordered him to kill Kazdin. He pleaded guilty in November to Kazdin's 1998 murder in return for a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors dropped plans to seek the death penalty against his mother after he pleaded guilty. If convicted, Sante Kimes faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. Kazdin's daughter, Linda, shook her head on the way out of court and said: "She's an evil person. It's just lies on top of lies." Sante Kimes denied watching her son choke New York socialite Irene Silverman and said Silverman had become her close friend. "He didn't kill Irene Silverman," she said. "Nobody knows where she is." The night Silverman disappeared, Sante Kimes said she was to meet her at the restaurant "21" for a celebration because a friend of Kimes was buying her Manhattan apartment. Prosecutors allege the mother-and-son team killed Silverman to get her multimillion dollar property. Hunter pointed out that when Kimes was arrested she had Silverman's passport and other belongings in her purse. Kimes said they were "planted" by law enforcement officials. During his two days on the witness stand, Kenneth Kimes said his mother coined a family motto, "No body, no crime," and was the mastermind of the Kazdin murder. The younger Kimes said his mother decided to kill Kazdin after he discovered she had fraudulently taken out a $280,000 loan by forging his signature. Kenneth Kimes said he shot Kazdin in the back of the head. The mother and son, who have been the subject of TV movies and books, then left California in a motor home and traveled to New York, where they killed Silverman. Sante Kimes was sentenced to 120 years in prison in the New York case and Kenneth Kimes received a 125-year sentence. They were brought to California after that 2000 trial to answer for Kazdin's death. | 
