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By Fred Shuster
A two-time convict who fatally shot Jacqueline Avant, the wife of celebrated music executive Clarence Avant, during a brazen burglary at the couple’s Trousdale Estates home in Beverly Hills and later laughed about the slaying while in jail was sentenced Tuesday to 150 years to life in prison.
Aariel Maynor, 30, of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty in March to killing the 81-year-old Avant, who was shot in the back around 2:25 a.m. Dec. 1 inside her home in the 1100 block of Maytor Place. He also admitted shooting at a security guard — who was not wounded — while trying to flee the scene.
Maynor pleaded guilty to one count each of murder, attempted murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm, and two counts of residential burglary with a person present. He also admitted allegations of using an assault long barrel pistol during the crimes, along with admitting prior robbery convictions from 2013 and 2018.
In court Tuesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathryn Solorzano sentenced Maynor to three life prison terms, saying he will have to serve a minimum of 150 years behind bars. She called Maynor a “serious danger to society,” noting that Avant was “a completely vulnerable victim.”
“She was caught by surprise in her own home early in the morning,” the judge said.
Maynor, who sat in a wheelchair in court, showed no reaction when the sentence was handed down.
During the sentencing hearing, Deputy District Attorney Victor Avila played audio from a pair of telephone calls Maynor made from jail in the weeks following his arrest. In one call, he is heard talking to a female friend, laughing about the shooting and saying, “I’m all over the news.”
In the second call, he bragged to a friend that he would not be facing the death penalty or life without parole — the result of Los Angeles County prosecutors no longer filing special-circumstance allegations.
“I’m gonna get out of jail,” Maynor said on the call, according to the memo. “I’ll probably do like 20 … 25, get out, you feel me?”
He also bragged that he would be able to obtain a cell phone while in prison, so he could keep in contact with his friends.
Solorzano noted earlier that a report indicated the 2013 robbery for which Maynor had been convicted involved a woman who was kicked in the face and knocked unconscious. She also noted Tuesday that Maynor had been released on parole for the 2018 robbery in September 2021, just a few months before Avant’s killing.
Avila said earlier that Avant was shot after confronting Maynor, who also fired “multiple shots” at the couple’s security guard while fleeing from the home, striking a vehicle. He subsequently broke into a home in the Hollywood Hills area and accidentally shot himself in a foot, the prosecutor said.
Los Angeles police responding to that burglary call found Maynor suffering from a gunshot wound to a foot, according to Beverly Hills Police Department Chief Mark Stainbrook.
Stainbrook said Los Angeles police contacted Beverly Hills police, and detectives “collected evidence connecting Maynor” to the Avant shooting.
Among the evidence collected was “a suspected weapon” from the crime, described by police as an AR-15 rifle. Stainbrook said Maynor was on parole and has an “extensive” criminal record, which bars him from possessing a weapon.
Video from the Avant home showed a shattered sliding-glass door, indicative of a break-in. Avant died at a hospital following the shooting. Clarence Avant, 90, was not injured.
In court Tuesday, Avila read a statement on behalf of the Avant family.
“There are no words to describe the cruel and vicious acts of the defendant. We are shattered,” according to the statement by Jacqueline and Clarence’s daughter, Nicole. “My mother devoted every cell of her body to help others. To have her life taken so brutally, is devastating.”
She added, “The grief is immeasurable.”
Maynor’s attorney, Marcus Huntley, told the court during the hearing that his client had a difficult childhood in which he was treated poorly in the foster care system.
“His upbringing is how we got to this situation,” Huntley said, adding that Maynor understands “that he will never leave prison.”
According to a prosecution sentencing memorandum, Maynor’s phone records showed that he specifically researched the Avants and their home address before the burglary.
Clarence Avant is known as the Godfather of Black Music, and has been regularly celebrated by artists such as Jay-Z and Diddy, L.A. Reid and Babyface. He began as a talent manager in the 1950s, worked at Venture Records in Southern California and founded L.A.-based Sussex Records and Avant Garde Broadcasting.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in October.
Jacqueline Avant served as president of the Neighbors of Watts, a support group that focused on child care. She was also on the board of directors of UCLA’s International Student Center. She was also a member of the board for the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.
Jacqueline and Clarence Avant have two grown children — Nicole and Alexander. Nicole Avant, a film producer who served as U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas during President Barack Obama’s administration, is the wife of Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos. She also served as a co-producer on the Netflix film “The Black Godfather,” a documentary about her father’s life and career.
The Avant family issued a statement after the shooting saying, “The entire Avant and Sarandos families wish to thank everyone for their outpouring of love, support and heartfelt condolences for Jacqueline Avant. Jacqueline was an amazing woman, wife, mother and philanthropist and a 55-year resident of Beverly Hills who has made an immeasurable positive impact on the arts community. She will be missed by her family, friends and all of the people she has helped throughout her amazing life.”
Former President Bill Clinton issued a statement calling Avant “a wonderful woman, a great partner to Clarence and mother to Alex and Nicole, an active citizen & a dear friend to Hillary and me for 30 years. She inspired admiration, respect & affection in everyone who knew her. We are heartbroken. She will be deeply missed.”
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Jacqueline Avant was a longtime friend.
“I know we use this term a lot, but she was truly an angel in this City of Angels,” he said. “She and Clarence, Nicole, their daughter, I’ve known for many years and I’ve seen and witnessed the way their generosity touched the lives and transformed the lives and even saved the lives of so many people in this city and in this country.”
