A California couple died because man mistook woman for his ex, prosecutors say

A California man accused of killing a couple after mistaking the woman for his ex-girlfriend will spend the rest of his life in prison, Orange County prosecutors reported.

A judge on Friday, June 3, sentenced James Rayon Buggs, 47, of Huntington Beach, to two consecutive life terms without parole plus 54 years to life in prison in the 2019 slayings, an Orange County District Attorney’s Office news release said.

A jury deliberated for “just hours” before convicting Buggs last month, according to the release. He was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, among other charges.

Buggs killed Darren Partch, 38, and Wendi Sue Miller, 48, inside Partch’s Newport Beach condominium, prosecutors said.

He had twice warned Partch to stay away from his former girlfriend, whom Partch said he did not know, prosecutors said.

Miller, whose hair resembled that of Buggs’ ex-girlfriend, had met Partch just hours before both were slain on April 20, 2019, prosecutors said. She had no other connection to anyone involved.

“Darren and Wendi were killed for absolutely no reason,” District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “The monster who shot them in the head did not care about their lives or the lives that were shattered into a million pieces the second he pulled the trigger.”

Defense attorneys argued that Buggs, who worked as a personal trainer, killed the two in a fit of passion.

“I’m sorry this happened,” Buggs said before he was sentenced, The Orange County Register reported. “I apologize. I stand accountable for what I did. I sinned and I ask you for forgiveness.”

Police captured Buggs hours after the slayings when he tried to break into an Irvine apartment he wrongly thought belonged to a chiropractor he suspected of having a relationship with his ex-girlfriend, prosecutors said.

“He will die in prison,” Spitzer said, according to the release.

A judge ruled hours before the sentencing hearing that Spitzer had violated California’s racial justice laws for his comments during a discussion on whether to seek the death penalty against Buggs, The Orange County Register reported.

Spitzer has denied the allegations.

This story was originally published June 5, 2022 at 1:35 PM with the headline "A California couple died because man mistook woman for his ex, prosecutors say."