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A4 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 19 OctOber 2019
Jury recommends death penalty for ‘Boy Next Door Killer’

By ANDREW DALTON when she had plans with ommended life in prison
AP Entertainment Writer actor Ashton Kutcher. with no possibility of parole.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los He testified during the trial His attorney Daniel Nardoni
Angeles jury recommend- that he arrived late for his said outside court that he
ed the death penalty Fri- date with Ellerin, looked was angered and disap-
day for a man dubbed into her house when there pointed by the decision.
"The Boy Next Door Killer" was no answer at the door, "You don't kill people that
after he was found guilty and saw what he thought are mentally ill," Nardoni
of two murders and an at- were wine stains before said. "It's just a matter of hu-
tempted murder. leaving. Gargiulo showed manity. There's a different
The victims of Michael Gar- no reaction as the court kind of punishment for the
giulo, 43, included 22-year- clerk read the death sen- mentally ill. It's called life
old Ashley Ellerin, who was tence at the brief hearing. without parole."
killed on a night in 2001 Jurors also could have rec- Defense attorneys and a
psychologist said in court Michael Gargiulo listens as the death penalty is announced
that Gargiulo has dissocia- during the sentencing phase of his trial in Los Angeles Superior
tive personality disorder, Court for the killings of two women and the attempted murder of
formerly known as multiple a third, on Friday, Oct. 18, 2019.
personality disorder. Associated Press
Prosecutors, who did not er cases, including a 1997 disorder and did not know
talk to reporters after the killing in Illinois for which he where he was at the time.
hearing, called Gargiulo is still awaiting trial. All three women were at-
"The Boy Next Door Killer" be- Murphy was also a key wit- tacked in their Southern
cause he lived near all the ness during the first phase California homes when
victims. He also was con- of the trial. Gargiulo lived nearby and
victed of the 2005 murder "In the days, weeks and watched his victims. Ellerin
of 32-year-old Maria Bruno months after it happened, I become an acquaintance
and the 2008 attempted barely even slept," Murphy before the attacks.
murder of Michelle Murphy, testified. "I feared the night- Ellerin's mother and other
who testified during the tri- time and going to bed. I still victims' family members
al's penalty phase that she slept with the lights on for a also testified during the
lived in fear for years after long time." penalty phase.
the attack. Gargiulo's attorneys con- When she learned about
Murphy fought when she tended that other men the death of her daughter,
was attacked in bed in her committed the murders Cynthia Ellerin said, "I fell to
Santa Monica apartment. of Bruno and Ellerin. They my knees on the floor and
Authorities said Gargiulo conceded their client had started crawling around
cut himself and left a trail of attacked Murphy but said the bedroom on my hands
blood that allowed prose- he was in a "fugue state" and knees like an animal,
cutors to tie him to the oth- because of his personality screaming."q

Bicycle deliveryman acquitted in fatal

stabbing of developer

Associated Press The jury started delibera- that Schellenger, a former
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A jury tions Wednesday after- Penn State University foot-
found a Philadelphia bicy- noon after hearing three ball player, was physically
cle deliveryman not guilty days of testimony in which intimidating and intoxicat-
Thursday of voluntary man- both sides largely agreed ed.
slaughter in the fatal stab- on the facts. White said Schellenger
bing of a real estate devel- White, who is black, did made a racial remark as
oper in a case that carried not know Schellenger, the altercation started, say-
racial implications. who was white, and was ing he threatened to, "beat
The jury agreed that not involved in the traffic the black off" of him. Prose-
22-year-old Michael White dispute. Schellenger had cutors argued no witnesses
acted in self-defense in been drinking with friends corroborated the remark.
the July 2018 stabbing of at a nearby restaurant be- Members of both White
37-year-old Sean Schel- fore the confrontation with and Schellenger's fami-
lenger during a confron- White, who was riding past lies were in the courtroom
tation sparked by a traffic the traffic dispute on his Thursday and during most
dispute near the city's up- way to deliver food. of the trial.
scale Rittenhouse Square Prosecutors argued that The prosecutor's office had
neighborhood. White inserted himself and twice downgraded the
Jurors found White guilty of escalated the argument potential charges against
tampering with evidence by pulling a knife. They White, including a move
— charges that stemmed showed the jury cellphone last week asking a judge
from throwing the knife video taken by a witness. to drop third-degree mur-
onto a roof as he fled and White testified that he der charges. Schellenger's
disposing of his bloody pulled the knife in self-de- mother strongly criticized
clothes. fense. His attorneys argued the decisions.q