Man gets life in prison for beating death of veteran

A Huntington Beach man was sentenced Friday to life in state prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of a World War II veteran during a Veterans Day robbery in 2003.

Curtis James Hill, 29, Huntington Beach, was found guilty Nov. 1 of one felony count of special-circumstances murder in the commission of a robbery.

Co-defendant John Kirk McKinney, 29, also a Huntington Beach resident, is charged with one felony count of special-circumstances murder in the commission of a robbery and faces a sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole if convicted. He is scheduled for trial Feb. 27, according to the Orange County district attorney's office.

Hill and McKinney attacked 77-year-old Cecil Warren on Nov. 11, 2003, after he noticed them inside his parked van, according to prosecutors. Warren, a handyman, was cleaning the parking lot of a bank in Huntington Beach.

He spent almost four years in a coma before dying from his injuries.

Hill and McKinney had been in jail since 2006, serving time for the beating, and were expected to be released this year, but were charged with murder Sept. 4, 2009.

—Michael Miller

Twitter: @MichaelMillerHB