Forty years after a sadistic suburban rapist terrorized California in what investigators later realized were a series of linked assaults and slayings, a 74-year-old former police officer is expected to plead guilty Monday to being the elusive Golden State Killer. The deal will spare Joseph James DeAngelo
1 / 2Golden State KillerFILE - In this March 12, 2020, file photo, Joseph James DeAngelo, charged with being the Golden State Killer, appears in court in Sacramento, Calif. The 74-year-old former police officer is tentatively set to plead guilty Monday, June 29, 2020, to being the elusive Golden State Killer. The hearing comes 40 years after a sadistic suburban rapist terrorized California in what investigators only later realized were a series of linked assaults and slayings. SACRAMENTO, Calif.
“I’ve been on pins and needles because I just don’t like that our lives are tied to him, again," said Jennifer Carole, the daughter of Lyman Smith, a lawyer who was slain in 1980 at age 43 in Ventura County. His wife, 33-year-old Charlene Smith, was also raped and killed. A guilty plea and life sentence avoids a trial or even the planned weeks-long preliminary hearing. The victims expect to confront him at his sentencing in August, where it's expected to take several days to tell DeAngelo and Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman what they have suffered.
The mystery sparked worldwide interest, a best-selling book and a six-part HBO documentary, “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark,” that premiered Sunday. His defense attorneys have publicly lobbied since then for a deal that would spare him the death penalty, though they did not respond to repeated requests for comment before Monday's hearing.
She was so committed to seeing the case through that she temporarily moved from Santa Cruz to her adult daughter's Sacramento home, where she has slept on an air mattress in a spare bedroom. She has told the story of her father's death and her own recent experiences through podcasts called The Lawyer’s Daughter.
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