Getaway Driver Sentenced in Irvine CEO’s Shooting

A Los Angeles businessman who drove the getaway car in the attempted murder of an Irvine drug company executive was sentenced Friday to 26 years to life in prison after last-minute negotiations aimed at getting him to identify the shooter failed.

The sentencing of Dino D’Saachs, 58, ties up one cord of a tangled case involving high-stakes drug research, the South African military and a hired hit man. But authorities still do not know who shot James Patrick Riley, the CEO of Biofem Inc., as he walked into his office at the Irvine Spectrum.

Prosecutors and D’Saachs’ lawyer spent the hours ahead of Friday’s sentencing trying to come up with a deal in which the defendant would cooperate with investigators in exchange for a reduced sentence. Twice during the day, the judge postponed sentencing so the lawyers could continue talking. But in the end, no deal was struck.

Police allege the victim’s business partner, Dr. Larry C. Ford, masterminded a murder scheme so he wouldn’t have to share profits from the company’s breakthrough medical products. Ford committed suicide shortly after the shooting that left Riley with a cheek wound.

Police subsequently discovered links between Ford and South Africa’s biological weapons program. But they are not sure if those connections played any role in the shooting.

In Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana on Friday, D’Saachs slouched at the defendant’s table and offered a brief speech in a quiet voice. He thanked his lawyer, his family and the judge, but never mentioned the crime.

The shooting occurred as Riley arrived for work on the morning of Feb. 28, 2000. As he emerged from his car, a black-clad gunman appeared and fired a pistol at his head. The bullet ricocheted off Riley’s cheekbone. Jurors found D’Saachs guilty of driving the van that carried the gunman, and they convicted him of conspiracy to commit murder and attempted premeditated murder.

Under state law, D’Saachs will not be eligible for parole until he has served at least 22 years of his sentence, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Ebrahim Baytieh.

Riley, who attended the hearing and addressed the court, said he believed the sentence was appropriate.

“I bear no ill will toward the defendant personally,” Riley said. “I would have liked to see him get a lighter sentence, though, for helping us to understand who the other players were.”

D’Saachs must appear in court again in August for a hearing to determine whether he must pay restitution to his victim. Riley said the shooting has caused him not only physical and personal pain, but has cost his company in excess of $1 million.

In the months before the shooting, the company was working on a breakthrough female contraceptive that was nearing government approval. Riley said, however, that in the time between his shooting and Ford’s death, numerous books of lab research on the product disappeared. Now the company must reproduce that work at significant cost.

Judge Francisco P. Briseno said he was rejecting several of D’Saachs’ requests for a new trial. He also said that he could not factor D’Saachs’ refusal to cooperate with authorities into his decision.