Man convicted in killing of past State Bar president

A Palm Springs transient has been sentenced to 15 years to life for the strangling death of former State Bar President Garvin Shallenberger, who served in the late 1970s.

Michael Anunciation, 48, received a total of 17 years to life after Riverside County Superior Court Judge James S. Hawkins added two years for prior convictions. Anunciation was also ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution to Shallenberger's wife and family.

A retired Laguna Beach lawyer who was president of the State Bar of California in 1977-78 and president of the Orange County Bar Association in 1972, Shallenberger was 85 when he was killed Sept. 30, 2006, in his Palm Desert vacation trailer.

Both the prosecution and defense said Shallenberger had paid Anunciation to have sex with him. Anunciation's lawyer said the retired lawyer was alive when Anunciation left the trailer, but the prosecution said Anunciation strangled Shallenberger and stole his wallet and other property.

A July trial ended in an 8-4 deadlock in favor of convicting Anunciation of second-degree murder. A second jury convicted him of second-degree murder on Oct. 16. He was sentenced on Oct. 27. Shallenberger was a longtime partner at the Costa Mesa civil firm, Rutan & Tucker.