DeAngelo showed no emotion during the nearly two-hour sentence. (Reuters)
California:
A former California police officer who lived a double life as a “Golden State Killer” was sentenced to life in prison Friday for a spate of murders and rapes in the 1970s and 1980s which were solved through the use of public genealogy websites.
A Sacramento County judge granted prosecutors’ request that Joseph James DeAngelo, 74, serve life in prison without the possibility of parole following emotional statements by victims or their family members in open court.
A seemingly fragile DeAngelo showed no emotion during the nearly two-hour sentence, held in a makeshift courtroom inside a Sacramento State University ballroom so that victims and their family members may spread amid the coronavirus pandemic.
When given the opportunity to speak, DeAngelo got up from a wheelchair, removed a mask, looked at the surviving victims and the relatives of those he murdered and said: “I ‘ Listened to all of your statements. Every one of them. And me. I am so sorry for everyone I hurt. “
Prosecutors then said they didn’t think DeAngelo’s apology was sincere. They also showed video of him in his prison cell, climbing onto a desk and standing on one leg while cleaning up, which they said proved he didn’t need to use a wheelchair.
In June, DeAngelo confessed to 13 murders and 13 rape charges for crimes committed between 1975 and 1986 as part of a plea deal with prosecutors sparing him a possible death sentence.
DeAngelo, whom a prosecutor called on Friday a scarecrow that has haunted California for decades, also publicly admitted dozens of more rapes for which the statute of limitations had expired. Prosecutors said he raided 120 homes in 11 counties during his crime spree, initially identified with a spate of rapes and murders around the state capital of Sacramento.
The identity of the Golden State Killer remained a mystery, his crimes unsolved, for decades until DeAngelo’s arrest in Sacramento County on April 24, 2018.
Investigators linked DeAngelo to the crimes using a then-new technique that involved tracing him through family DNA from commercial genealogy websites.
Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert has lobbied for decades to find a way to resolve the cold case that rocked the state and region.
DeAngelo’s crimes, she said, traumatized generations in the capital region. “For the people of Sacramento who went through this, I hope you open the windows tonight and feel the breeze,” she said.
‘WITHOUT MERCY’
Prosecutors in the counties where he committed his crimes told Judge Michael Bowman he deserved no mercy.
“Over four decades – it’s a long time to wait for justice,” said Diana Becton, district attorney for Contra Costa, where some of DeAngelo’s crimes were committed.
Bowman said he has no power to determine what type of prison DeAngelo is sent to.
“But the survivors spoke clearly – the accused deserves no mercy,” he said, as those in the courtroom erupted to loud applause.
Courtney Strouse’s mother was raped by DeAngelo in the 1970s, and until her death in 2016, she woke up several times during the night to watch her children and make sure all doors and windows were locked, Strouse said.
Strouse said she had learned to live in constant fear, but Friday’s sentencing had brought some relief.
“It’s good the scarecrow is gone,” she said. “It’s like a fable you’ve been told all your life about the scarecrow and now it’s gone.”
