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U.S. NEWS Saturday 19 auguSt 2017

California mass killer spared death sentence

By AMY TAXIN fundamental parameters
Associated Press of prosecutorial propriety,
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — this defendant would likely
A California judge ruled today be living alongside
Friday that a convicted other convicted killers on
mass killer will be spared California’s death row in
the death penalty amid a San Quentin State Prison,”
long-running scandal over the ruling said.
authorities’ use of jailhouse The decision pleased rela-
informants. tives of several victims be-
Judge Thomas M. Goeth- cause it might allow the
als said 47-year-old Scott long-stalled penalty phase
Dekraai would not be sen- of the trial to begin.
tenced to death for kill- “I’m happy with the deci-
ing eight people in a 2011 sion, the feeling of relief.
shooting rampage at an The fact I don’t have to
Orange County hair salon. worry about it anymore is
The ruling leaves only the huge,” Paul Wilson, whose
possibility that Dekraai will wife died in the attack, said
be sentenced to life in pris- in court, according to the
on. Orange County Register
While acknowledging the (http://bit.ly/2whQEZe).
“horrendous” nature of “Even if he was executed,
Dekraai’s crime, the judge it would have been a drug- In this Aug. 10, 2017 photo, Scott Dekraai watches as Deputy Attorney General Michael T. Murphy
found that failures by the induced easy out,” Betha- makes his final arguments before Judge Thomas Goethals in Santa Ana, Calif. Judge Goethals
prosecution team would ny Webb, whose sister was ruled Friday that Dekraai will be spared the death penalty amid a long-running scandal over
prevent a fair penalty killed, told the Los Angeles authorities’ use of jailhouse informants.
phase of the trial. Times (http://lat.ms/2fRslu8 (Ken Steinhardt /The OCR via AP)
Dekraai’s defense attor- ) outside court. The California attorney gen- alty phase hearing. ment saying Dekraai con-
neys had argued that re- Webb said she hoped eral’s office had argued It also said the former tug- fessed on the day of the kill-
peated failures by sheriff’s the ruling would result in there was no indication boat operator can get fair ings — even before he was
authorities to reveal re- Dekraai fading authorities have evidence treatment. booked into jail — and the
cords related to informants “quietly into the hell he de- that would assist Dekraai in The Sheriff’s Department facts of the case supported
show the agency can’t serves.” the limited scope of a pen- immediately issued a state- a death penalty verdict.q
be trusted to turn over evi-
dence favoring their client.
Goethals said authorities New Hampshire confirms identity of suspected killer
repeatedly flouted his or-
ders to produce docu- By HOLLY RAMER girlfriend also likely had five New Hampshire State Po- “The hope is that ... some-
ments. Associated Press earlier victims, including his lice’s cold case unit said one will recognize him and
“To accept chronic non- CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Au- toddler daughter and the he hopes the new informa- say, ‘Yeah, I knew Terry,’
compliance with such or- thorities on Friday said they mother of another girl he tion will lead to tips about and be able to potentially
ders in any case, much less have confirmed the iden- raised for several years and Rasmussen — and possibly identify any females or chil-
a case of this magnitude, tity of a man suspected of then abandoned. other victims — during the dren that were accompa-
would dangerously under- killing six women and chil- The man went by at least several years before he ar- nying him in his travels for
mine the integrity of, and dren while using numerous five names, including Bob rived in New Hampshire in those critical years.”
ultimately the community’s names in multiple states. Evans in New Hampshire the late 1970s. According to investiga-
respect for, the justice sys- The announcement came and Lawrence Vanner in “We’ve found his real iden- tors, Rasmussen was born
tem,” the judge wrote. seven months after law en- California, but authorities tity, and more significantly, in 1943 in Denver, grew up
“If this case had been pros- forcement officials said a said Friday that his real that he appears to have in both Colorado and Ari-
ecuted from the outset by man who died in a Califor- name was Terry Peder Ras- used this identity up until zona, and attended high
the Orange County district nia prison in 2010 after kill- mussen. the time he comes to New school in Phoenix before
attorney within the most ing and dismembering his Sgt. Michael Kokoski of Hampshire,” he said. joining the Navy. q