A 40-year-old defendant convicted of stabbing a workers’ compensation attorney in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom was sentenced on March 2 to prison, the District Attorney’s Office announced.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Edmund William Clarke sentenced Andre Torres to 11 years to life in state prison.

Torres, who identifies herself as a male-to-female transsexual, was convicted on Feb. 15 of one count of willful, deliberate and premeditated attempted murder. Jurors also found true allegations that the defendant personally used a knife and personally inflicted great bodily injury on the victim.

On May 20, 2010, the defendant  — armed with a nine-inch butcher knife — entered the Junipero Serra state office building and wandered the halls looking for courts that were in session.

Torres found the courtroom where her previous court appearance was held, sat in the chair closest to the judge’s door and waited.

While the defendant waited, the victim entered the courtroom and made a phone call. Seconds after the victim began speaking, stating the name of his law firm at the outset of the call, Torres stabbed the man in the back.

The law firm was the same firm who opposed the defendant in her workers’ compensation case. The victim did not know the defendant.