From LA Times: Golden State Killer suspect agrees to guilty plea in a deal that spares him death penalty
The former police officer accused of terrorizing California during a series of rapes and murders attributed to the Golden State Killer is expected to plead guilty later this month in a deal that will spare him the death penalty, according to multiple sources.
Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., 74, is set to enter a guilty plea to 13 murders and kidnapping charges from as many rapes in a yet-to-be determined Sacramento County courtroom on June 29.
(Featured image is “Scales of Justice” by Government of Prince Edward Island . Used under creative commons license.)
Fine with me. He’s put away for the rest of his life. Probably in whatever California calls solitary, since former police tend to get killed when mixed in with the general population. The state won’t be out the few million dollars it costs to dot i’s and cross t’s and run through all of the necessary appeals to confirm the dotting and crossing for a capital case. In California that probably takes at least ten years, and the guy’s age makes it unlikely he’ll survive that long anyway. Reading the Wikipedia page, it’s unclear to me whether California has a court-approved execution protocol.Report
I have been following this case closely and am rather shocked he is agreeing to this, seeing as how CA’s death penalty is for show only and nobody has been executed in going on 15 years, and DeAngelo strikes me as the type of asshole who would go to trial just to retraumatize his victims.Report