Groom’s Just a Prisoner of Love--and L. A. County
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The bride wore white and the groom jail house blue in a San Fernando Courthouse wedding ceremony Friday that was conducted by the same judge who will eventually sentence the man for manslaughter.
The courtroom of Superior Court Judge Howard J. Schwab was a familiar setting for the wedding of June Carter, 21, of Watts, who spent much of June and July there during the murder trial of her new husband, Frederick Staves.
Staves, 23, was found guilty by a jury July 16 of the lesser charge of manslaughter in the slaying of Rudolph Burkes of Pacoima during a fight at Hansen Dam Park on July 4, 1985. Staves, of Compton, is in County Jail and faces a maximum 15-year sentence when he appears before Schwab on Oct. 20.
Carter said shortly before the ceremony that she and Staves met seven years ago at a Cerritos ice skating rink. “He was like a magnet,” she said. “It was love at first sight.”
During the double-ring ceremony, Schwab advised the couple that “love and loyalty alone will avail as the foundation of a happy marriage.”
The couple will be allowed overnight visits once or twice a month after Staves is transferred to state prison, his attorney, Dale M. Rubin, said.
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