Jury sentences ‘Grim Sleeper’ to death

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

A serial killer known as the “Grim Sleeper” should be sentenced to death for murdering nine women and a teenage girl over more than two decades in South Los Angeles, a jury decided Monday.

Lonnie Franklin Jr. stared straight ahead and showed no emotion as a court clerk read 10 death-penalty verdicts.

Family members of the victims cried as the verdicts were read. One rocked back and forth, while another whispered to himself, “Thank you.”

The 63-year-old Franklin, a former city trash collector and garage attendant for Los Angeles police, was convicted of 10 counts of first-degree murder last month for crimes dating back more than 30 years.

A prosecutor had asked jurors to show Franklin the same compassion he showed his victims and give him the “ultimate penalty.”

An emotional defense lawyer asked jurors to sentence him to life without parole to hasten the healing process for the victims’ family members.

The judge set formal sentencing for Aug. 10.

Police didn’t connect the crimes to a serial killer for years, and victims’ families and community residents complained the killings weren’t thoroughly investigated because the victims were poor and black, and some were prostitutes who had been using cocaine.

Franklin came under suspicion after a task force began re-examining the cold cases after the final killing in 2007 and DNA from his son showed similarities to genetic evidence found on some of the victims.

A detective posing as a busboy at a pizza parlor later collected utensils and crusts from Franklin while he was attending a birthday party. Lab results connected him to the bodies.

The culprit had been dubbed the “Grim Sleeper” because of an apparent gap in slayings between 1988 and 2002.