Man Sentenced for Killing Lover’s Ex-Husband

A Wilmington truck driver was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Friday for shooting his girlfriend’s ex-husband to death in a jealous rage.

Randolph Hoag, 29, was convicted by a Torrance Superior Court jury last month of murder with the special circumstance of lying in wait.

Jurors concluded that Hoag gunned down Charles Sweed, 28, on Dec. 4, 1990, as Sweed left an apartment in an unincorporated area near Athens where he had been visiting his daughter and ex-wife.

A witness testified that he saw Sweed, a tow truck driver, walking toward his truck when Hoag came out of the building’s carport and fired six rounds from a handgun into Sweed’s back.

Even after the gun was out of bullets, the witness testified, Hoag pulled the trigger three more times before he stopped and ran away.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Marc Chomel said Hoag was arrested at the scene later the same night when the witness saw him in the crowd gathered at the scene of the shooting. Detectives later found a radio scanner in Hoag’s house, which Chomel believes Hoag used to track Sweed’s tow truck calls.

“It’s our theory that he was obsessed with the ex-husband and out of jealousy and a desire for revenge he used the scanner to stalk the victim,” Chomel said. “It’s a stunning case of murder committed in cold blood.”

Defense attorney Earl Broady, however, brought in one of Hoag’s neighbors, who testified that she saw Hoag outside talking to another man about the time the murder was committed.

During the trial, Broady also argued that the statements from witnesses were tainted because Sweed’s relatives were at the scene and accused Hoag of the murder. Broady did not return telephone calls seeking comment Friday.