'Grim Sleeper' killer to be put to death

[humble3d]

'Grim Sleeper' killer to be put to death

A California serial killer known as the "Grim Sleeper" should be put to death, a Los Angeles jury recommended Monday, capping a case that has played out over three decades, according to reports from the Los Angeles Times And other news outlets.

 

Franklin has been convicted of killing 10 people in two murder sprees separated by a gap of nearly 14 years.Video provided by Newsy Newslook

Lonnie David Franklin Jr., 63, was convicted last month in the slayings of nine women and one 15-year-old girl across South Los Angeles between 1985 and 2007. Authorities, however, believe the former mechanic and sanitation worker is responsible for 25 deaths, according to the Times.

 

Prosecutors were able to connect him with at least five more killings during the penalty phase of his three-month trial, but opted not to pursue conviction for those additional five because Franklin already was facing the death penalty, the Times reported.

Franklin remained stoic Monday in the courtroom as the decision on sentencing was announced, the Times reported.

The public dubbed Franklin the Grip Sleeper because of a 14-year gap in the killings after one woman survived a gunshot to the chest in 1988, according to ABC 7.

The killings were brutal, Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman told the courtroom in closing arguments. The bodies were often abandoned on roadsides or dumped in the trash, and some went unidentified for long periods of time.

"They were so vicious, they were so calculated, and they were so demeaning," the Times quoted Silverman as saying. "The way these women ended up, half of them naked ... all of them in filthy alleys."

Franklin often stalked his victims, strangling them or shooting them fatally, ABC 7 reported. Most were prostitutes and most had cocaine in their systems when they died, the station reported.

Defense Attorney Dale Atherton made a plea for mercy, telling the courtroom that executing Franklin would run counter to the healing process for the victims' families, the Times reported.

"Every time they think of the approaching execution date, it will be like opening the wounds again, the Times quoted Atherton as saying.

Franklin was connected to his victims through ballistics or DNA evidence, ABC 7 reported prosecutors said.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/06/06/grim-sleeper-killer-put-death/85527100/

 

[vibranium]

Quote

 

Defense Attorney Dale Atherton made a plea for mercy, telling the courtroom that executing Franklin would run counter to the healing process for the victims' families, the Times reported.

"Every time they think of the approaching execution date, it will be like opening the wounds again, the Times quoted Atherton as saying.

 

 

 

That makes no bloody sense!

[lurch234]

1 hour ago, vibranium said:

 

That makes no bloody sense!

 

Defense lawyer is a sociopath.

[C.G.B. Spender]

Makes perfect sense imho. Defense lawyer just does his job. He's not there to make opinions or take a stance toward his client, he's there to defend his clients' rights. Even if the case is virtually lost and regardless of what he might think of the client he is legally bound to pursue all eligible avenues of defense such as plea for mercy, reason notwithstanding.

[vibranium]

All the same, many people attending court that day must have rolled their eyes at this rainbow unicorn argument.

[pc71520]

9 hours ago, humble3d said:

Defense Attorney Dale Atherton made a plea for mercy...

Yeah, right...

[luisam]

Knowing the course death penality cases follow, this fellow, currently 63, will die of old age, due to natural causes, before the sentence might be made effective.