Accused Golden State Killer to plead guilty, avoid death penalty: report
A murdering monster who terrorized California in the 1970 and ’80s will cop to his crimes to keep from being killed himself.
The so-called Golden State Killer, accused of murdering 13 people and raping 45 over more than a decade across California, will plead guilty to the charges in exchange for prosecutors taking the death penalty off the table.
Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., the 74-year-old former police officer, will enter his plea in court on June 29, decades after his killing spree. He’ll get life in prison without the possibility of parole — after facing the relatives of those whose lives he brutally ended.
“We are so totally supportive of the death penalty and yet we are totally supportive of this decision to let the Golden State Killer plead to life without possibility of parole,” said Ron Harrington, whose brother Keith and sister and Patti were beaten to death in their Orange County home in August 1980.
“Almost 40 years have passed and literally some of the victims have passed away, there are foundational issues from an evidentiary standpoint,” Harrington said. “You’ve got victims who have now passed away. How are they going to testify?”
Beyond the murders, DeAngelo is also expected to confess to “scores” of other crimes on which the statute of limitations has expired.
A group of district attorneys told the Los Angeles Times that they have “a moral and ethical responsibility to consider any offer from the defense, given the massive scope of the case, the advanced age of many of the victims and witnesses, and our inherent obligations to the victims.”
But some of DeAngelo’s victims lamented that he would not be on the stand to face his crimes.
“I already know he raped me, that he was guilty, but my deeper feeling is, ‘Why?’ What is so important that he does not want shown in trial that he is willing to do this?” Kris Pedretti, who was 15 when she was raped in 1976, told the L.A. Times. "What is it that he doesn’t want to be known?”
Victor Hayes also detailed his frustration to the newspaper.
“I’m grateful he’s been caught, but the fact of the matter is he’s already lived a full life,” said Hayes, who was 21 when he and his girlfriend, 17, were attacked while in September 1977 just east of Sacramento.
DeAngelo is expected to admit to a serial killing spree that started in Tulare County in 1975 and included two murders in Sacramento County in 1978, four murders in Santa Barbara County between 1979 and 1980, two murders in Ventura County in 1980 and four murders in Orange County between 1980 and 1986.
He was arrested in April 2018 after cold case investigators submitted crime scene DNA to an open-source, public genealogy website and tracked the results to DeAngelo.
A hearing was set to begin in Sacramento County in August, pending coronavirus delays, but prosecutors had been concerned about the overwhelming volume of evidence and more than 100 possible witness, according to the L.A. Times.
The death penalty is legal in California, but Gov. Gavin Newsom announced in March 2019 that he was suspending all executions during his time in office.
The prosecutors, in their joint statement, said, “Victims of a crime are entitled to finality in their criminal cases, as well as the expectation that the person convicted of committing the crime will be punished.” They said their offices “are working closely with the victims in this case to ensure their statements are considered by the Court prior to sentencing.”
That may be enough for some people, but Harrington said, "We’re getting closer to as much closure as we can obtain.”
With News Wire Services
