John Creech was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in July, he faces 11 years in prison for the killing of Gavin Smith

A convicted drug dealer was sentenced Tuesday in California to 11 years in prison in the beating death of a movie studio executive who had been having an affair with his wife.

John Lenzie Creech, 45, was convicted two months earlier of voluntary manslaughter in the killing of Gavin Smith, a 20th Century Fox distribution executive.
The jury on July 4, had rejected prosecution arguments that the defendant,  committed murder when he killed Gavin Smith after catching him in a romantic tryst with his estranged wife, Chandrika Cade. Instead they convicted him of voluntary manslaughter, in the death of the Fox executive.
The remains of Smith, a married of three boys was found in a shallow desert grave in 2014, more than two years after he was reported missing.

Before sentencing, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephen A. Marcus called Creech ‘a cold and cruel person,’ saying his actions had been “egregious, heartless, callous.”
‘Mr. Creech has shown no remorse in this case whatsoever,’ the judge said.
‘He has attempted to sort of paint himself as the total victim in this case and the court does not find, in my view of the evidence, that that’s true.’
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Man convicted of manslaughter in death of wife’s Lover – John Creech beat Fox executive Gavin Smith to death with his bare hands

Prosecutors said Creech killed Smith because Smith was having an affair with Cade. The pair who met in drug rehab and been in a sporadic affair for years.

In the fight that followed, Creech crushed Smith’s skull on both sides, according to an autopsy.
Nearly a year later, the Mercedes, with Smith’s blood on it, was found in a storage facility connected to Creech.
In November 2014, hikers discovered his remains in a shallow grave in the desert north of Los Angeles.
Creech was already in jail by then to serving an eight year sentence for an unrelated charge which he was convicted of in 2012, after Smith’s death.
In February 2015, he pled not guilty to a first degree murder charge, claiming he was acting in self-defense when he accidentally killed the man.
Creech claimed that Smith had thrown the first punch and he defended himself.
He said they were having a fight when he hit him as he sat in the car with Cade.
Chandrika Cade, who divorced him after his arrest, testified against Creech during his trial.
She described him as violent and difficult to live with but said she put up with his outbursts.
Creech was serving an eight-year sentence for the sale or transportation of drugs when he was indicted for the killing.

Dylan Smith told the court his dad was someone who loved action. When his sons skimboarded, surfed or played basketball, he joined in. He was also exceedingly kind, Dylan said, choking up at the thought of his future children never meeting his father.
Lisa Smith’s hands shook and she took deep breaths to quiet her sobs. Not only had Creech stolen her husband’s life from them,  but also his death. For two years before his body was found, his family hadn’t been able to fully mourn. Years later, she said, she couldn’t help but think of her husband’s body rotting as it sat inside a car parked in the garage of Creech’s friend’s home.
An angry Evan Smith punched a bench in the courtroom as he listened to his mother’s painful memories. A few moments later, Lisa turned to look at Creech and shook her head.
“He needs to be in walls,” she said, “like the animal that he is.”
The probation officer who wrote a pre-sentencing report for the judge said that Creech “poses a potential threat to the victim’s family and society,” and suggested he serve prison time.
Toward the end of the hearing Judge Stephen Marcus, explained that one thing he considers in deciding a sentence is whether the defendant displayed a high degree of viciousness. In this case, “the answer is ‘yes,’” the judge said.