RIVERSIDE - A parolee who fatally stabbed his girlfriend in her Moreno Valley apartment during an argument about her staying out late was sentenced today to 55 years to life in prison.

Brandon Ramsey Wilson, 29, was convicted in June of first-degree murder and a sentence-enhancing weapons allegation in the March 27, 2011, slaying of Renisha Leshay Bruins.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Richard Fields imposed the mandatory sentence for the murder and weapons allegation. He also sentenced Wilson to five years for a prior felony strike.

Deputy District Attorney Alma Hernandez described Wilson as a "cold- blooded murderer" who stabbed Bruins in the back and neck after she returned home from nighttime partying with several girlfriends at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa in Cabazon.

The 27-year-old woman returned to her apartment in the 12000 block of Memorial Way to find the defendant waiting up Advertisement

[ Pala Mesa Resort ] for her, according to trial testimony.

An argument followed, during which Wilson pulled a knife and stabbed the victim repeatedly. The defendant, who had been living at the residence while working one day a week as a parking lot attendant, fled the location and, after consulting his parents, surrendered at the Moreno Valley sheriff's station, telling deputies he had accidentally killed his girlfriend, witnesses testified.

Deputy Public Defender Judith Gweon argued that Wilson suffered from a psychological disorder that caused him to act impulsively without realizing the consequences of his actions.

"He is generally non-confrontational, passive and shy," Gweon told jurors in June, adding that her client "overreacted" to the situation.

Hernandez blasted the proposition that Wilson was non-violent and suffered from a cognitive dysfunction, noting that he had a prior conviction for robbery and had never experienced anything that would have caused psychological trauma.