Convicted Carjacker and Kidnapper is Sentenced

A 36-year-old Mission Viejo man was sentenced today to nearly 13 years to life in prison for taking a woman's SUV from her garage with her 2 1/2-year-old son and dog in the backseat and running over the pregnant victim's foot in the process.

James Christopher Corr was convicted Aug. 13 of 10 felonies and one misdemeanor in the October 2011 incident.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Carla Singer sentenced Corr to 12 years and eight months to life in prison. Corr had a prior conviction hit-and- run conviction in Nevada in 2005 that factored into his sentence.

Singer told the defendant, "You are a thief by trade," but noted, "Your history of violence is minimal."

If Corr, who apologized to the victims and said he had an epiphany in custody about his errant ways, "has really learned (his) lesson," he could have a shot at making parole, Singer said.

If not, "Then that's one less predator to worry about," she said.

The boy's mother, an Aliso Viejo woman who was 30 weeks pregnant at the time, told the judge that suffers from "post-traumatic stress" since Corr invaded her garage. She recalled how panicked she felt during the ordeal.

"Wondering if I was ever going to see my son, Colin, alive has been my darkest moment," she said. Even to this day, recalling that moment is still gut wrenching."

The victim also worried about whether the stress would induce premature labor.

"I could have lost two sons that day," she said, referring to the boy she eventually gave birth to.

Her son, Colin, still struggles with anxiety, she said.

"He continually asks if the 'bad guy' is going to take him again or if the 'bad guy' is in the garage again," she said.

The victim testified during the trial that she was getting ready to meet her husband, who had been running in Newport Beach, for breakfast about 7:45 a.m. when her son asked her for a cup of water.

She dashed back into the house for 30 seconds to fill her son's "sippy cup." As she opened the door to the garage, "I saw a man was jumping into my car," she testified.

The mother said she "rushed toward" the shirtless, tattooed man with a shaved head and hurled the plastic cup at him. A scuffle ensued and the woman fell backward on her elbows.

Asked how Corr responded, the woman testified that "he just smiled."

The woman frantically tried to get her son out of his car seat as Corr backed the Volvo out of the garage, running over one of her feet in the process, she testified. The family's Saint Bernard dog also was in the backseat.

Corr backed out so quickly that he damaged the SUV door next to the boy and left skid marks on the garage floor, Deputy District Attorney Aleta Bryant said.

Corr was unfamiliar with the neighborhood, so he drove around trying to find a route out of the area only to end up in a cul de sac. He turned the Volvo around, got out and tried but failed to get the door to close, and, when neighbors started closing in on him, jumped back into the driver's seat and sped off, Bryant said.

One of the neighbors gave chase in her vehicle, "honking the horn like crazy," Bryant said. Corr "blew through a red light," and his pursuer did, as well, the prosecutor added.

Corr "bailed out" near Da Vinci and Medici with the vehicle ending up on a curb, still in drive with the door hanging open and the toddler and dog still inside, Bryant said.

Corr ran and, at one home, tried to pry open a sliding glass door. When was eventually caught, police said they seized evidence from a vehicle break-in in Mission Viejo -- a crime reported shortly before he took the SUV.

-- City News Service