SUSPECT IN SLAYING GETS THREE YEARS FOR PURSUIT.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - A man accused of beating his mother to death in her Quartz Hill mobile home has been sentenced in Kern County to three years in prison for leading authorities on a high-speed pursuit before her body was found.

Gary Patrick Gregory, 32, will now go to Los Angeles County to face murder and elder abuse charges in the slaying of 66-year-old Nancy Gregory, a retired Antelope Valley College nursing instructor, who was found dead in bed.

``He'll be transferred to the Lancaster courts most likely before he goes to prison,'' said Gregory's attorney, Kern County Deputy Public Defender Dana Kinnison.

Gary Gregory was sentenced in Kern County Superior Court in Bakersfield on Thursday. He earlier pleaded no contest to reckless felony evading a peace officer, prosecutors said.

Coroner's investigators ruled that Nancy Gregory, who was found dead July 23 in her Quartz Hill Mobile Home Park trailer, died from blunt force injury to the head.

Deputies went to her home to check on her welfare after her son led authorities on a high-speed chase in her car.

After the chase ended with a crash near California City, Gary Gregory held deputies in a standoff for nearly 40 minutes, telling them he was going to kill himself and asking them to kill him.

During the standoff, CHP officers became concerned about Nancy Gregory's welfare and tried to telephone her. After several attempts, they contacted Lancaster sheriff's deputies, who went to the trailer. When repeated knocks on the door went unanswered, a deputy forced open a window and entered the home where he discovered the body in bed.

Friends and neighbors said Gary Gregory was abusive to his mother, and about six months ago he was evicted from the trailer park after a five-hour standoff with deputies at her home.