Jury recommends death for serial killer convicted of killing 4 women, girl in 1970s

Calif. jury: Death for serial killer Rodney Alcala

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California jury has recommended death for convicted serial killer Rodney Alcala in the 1970s slayings of four women and a 12-year-old girl.

The jury in Orange County returned its decision Tuesday afternoon, only hours after the 66-year-old urged the panel to spare his life.

Alcala was convicted last month of murdering 12-year-old Robin Samsoe and four Los Angeles County women in the late 1970s. The penalty phase of the trial began last week.

Alcala gave his own closing arguments Tuesday. He told jurors that if they recommend death instead of life in prison without parole, his case would be on appeal for another 15 to 20 years.

Earlier, a prosecutor called Alcala an “evil monster” who knows he’s done wrong and doesn’t care.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Convicted serial killer Rodney Alcala asked a California jury on Tuesday to spare his life, arguing that the long appeals process would cause more suffering to his victims’ families.

Alcala represented himself during closing arguments in the penalty phase of his trial for murdering a 12-year-old Huntington Beach girl and four Los Angeles County women in the late 1970s. He asked for life in prison without chance of parole and noted in a 10-minute argument that his two previous death sentences for killing Samsoe were thrown out on appeal.

The victims’ families will have to wait 15 years for his execution, and there’s a good chance that a death sentence would be overturned, Alcala said.

“But if you chose life in prison you will end the matter now,” he told the Orange County jury. “The families of the victims will have closure after 30 years.”

The 12-year-old, Robin Samsoe, was kidnapped while riding a bicycle to ballet class on June 20, 1979. Her body was found 12 days later in the Angeles National Forest.

Alcala was arrested a month after Samsoe’s disappearance when his parole agent recognized him from a police sketch and called authorities. Alcala has been in custody ever since and is now 66.

He was first tried in Samsoe’s murder in 1980. Prosecutors added the murders of four women in 2006 after investigators discovered forensic evidence linking him to those crimes, including DNA found on three of the women, a bloody handprint and marker testing done on blood Alcala left on a towel in the fourth victim’s home.

The jury convicted Alcala of the murders on Feb. 25, and also found true special-circumstance allegations of rape, torture and kidnapping, making him eligible for the death penalty.

A defense psychiatrist testified during the trial penalty phase last week that Alcala suffers from a borderline personality disorder that could lead to psychotic episodes. Alcala has claimed he doesn’t remember some of his actions.

Prosecutor Matt Murphy called the defense psychiatrist’s diagnosis “garbage” and argued that Alcala, a one-time photographer and contestant on TV’s “The Dating Game,” was a remorseless predator who enjoyed killing and kept earrings and other trophies of his victims.

“He’s an evil monster who knows what he’s doing is wrong and doesn’t care,” Murphy told jurors Tuesday in asking them to recommend the death penalty.

Murphy also noted Alcala’s previous convictions for raping a 15-year-old in 1979 and an 8-year-old girl in 1968.