A jury this afternoon recommended the death penalty for Rodney James Alcala, the Death Row inmate the same jury on Feb, 25 found guilty today of five counts of first-degree murder, including
the kidnap-slaying of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe of Huntington Beach.
This is now the third time a jury has recommended death for Alcala.
“Yes!” yelled Robert Samsoe, the brother of Robin, as the decision was revealed. Other courtroom spectators broke into applause.
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Alcala's formal sentencing will be determined Wednesday.
Veteran Orange County Register court reporter Larry Welborn has the scoop.
Alcala, 66, who has twice escaped execution on appeal, acted as his own
lawyer in the Santa Ana courtroom where he was being tried for the
killing of Samsoe, a ballet student who
disappeared on June 20, 1979, and four Los Angeles County murder victims between 1977-79.
Welborn reports that Alcala's seven-man, five-woman jury deliberated for about an hour before recommending the ultimate penalty.
The same jury had deliberated seven hours before finding him guilty of murder and several special circumstances, including multiple murders, murders during sexual assault and kidnapping and murders-by-torture.
In “Rodney Alcala's Final Revenge” by Christine Pelisek in our sister paper LA Weekly, the award-winning crime writer explores how the serial killer
has been using the courts to exert power and control over families of the
victims he is accused of slaying.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.