Swedish Tourist Sentenced to 12 Years for Killing Man

LOS ANGELES —  A Swedish tourist was sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison for stabbing to death an acquaintance with whom he was staying in Hollywood last year.

Superior Court Judge James Chalfant ordered Kristopher Stefan Lines, 23, to serve the maximum sentence for the April 3, 1999, murder of Randall Dunne, 32, in the victim’s apartment. Lines was convicted of voluntary manslaughter last April.

The judge said he believed Lines came to Los Angeles as a tourist out to have fun but committed a crime of “great violence” after a “silly argument” with Dunne.

Deputy Public Defender John Allen told reporters outside the court that the sentence was “unjust” and that Lines will appeal.

Dunne’s father, Randall K. Dunne, who traveled from Arizona to Los Angeles to be present for the sentencing, told a reporter he was disappointed with the sentence. “Twelve years? He stabbed my son five times in the back,” he said.

The prosecutor said Lines’ best friend witnessed the attack and told police it was an unprovoked murder, but returned to Sweden and could not be forced to return to the United States to testify.

Lines fled after the slaying and was arrested just over two weeks later after police got a tip that he might be hiding in the upstairs bedroom closet of a home in Woodland Hills.