TARZANA : 9-Year Term to Start for Husband’s Killer

Flanked by about 20 family members, a Tarzana woman who had run out of appeals surrendered in Van Nuys Superior Court on Tuesday to begin serving a nine-year prison sentence for shooting her millionaire husband to death more than three years ago.

Carole Evelyn Mellinger, 50, was convicted in November, 1990, of voluntary manslaughter in the death of 69-year-old Brainerd Mellinger, who was shot four times as he entered the den in the couple’s home.

During the trial, prosecutors portrayed Mellinger as a woman motivated by greed and jealousy over her husband’s longtime affair with another woman.

“She’s finally where she belongs,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Ann Korban, who prosecuted the case. “I think justice is done today and she’s finally being punished for the crime she committed.”

Mellinger testified during the trial that she was extremely drunk on Jan. 24, 1990, and mistook her husband for a burglar.

She maintained that her husband was expected to spend the night away from their home in the 19700 block of Komar Drive in Tarzana. She also testified that she loved her husband of 23 years and did not mind that he was having an affair.

Mellinger was sentenced to prison on Jan. 7, 1991, but she was in custody for only eight days. Superior Court Judge Darlene Schempp released Mellinger pending appeal.

On March 26, the state Supreme Court refused to hold a hearing on Mellinger’s case.