Decades after terrorizing California communities, the serial killer and rapist known as the “Golden State Assassin” pleaded guilty to more than two dozen charges and admitted to committing numerous crimes on Monday.
Joseph James DeAngelo, a 74-year-old former police officer, pleaded guilty to 13 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of kidnapping for theft. He also admitted his guilt “for all other crimes charged and not charged,” including at least 50 rapes and more than 120 robberies as part of a settlement with prosecutors.
“This has been a very long journey for justice,” said Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert during a press conference. “It has been said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. For many there is little doubt that this trip felt like a thousand miles. “
In his comments, Schubert, whose office directed the processing of the case, called DeAngelo “the real-life version of Hannibal Lecter,” a “sociopath” and “master manipulator.”
“We have now moved this monster not just from being caught to being found guilty,” Schubert said.
Sacramento County Deputy District Attorney Amy Holliday said that as a result of pleading guilty, the state of California would not pursue the death penalty.
DeAngelo was arrested in 2018 after law enforcement officers used online genealogical databases to link him to a decades-old DNA sample from the Golden State Killer, which terrorized California over a 12-year period in the 1970s. and 1980.
Many of the “unaccused crimes” to which DeAngelo admitted could not be prosecuted as the statute of limitations had expired.
Holliday said DeAngelo will face 11 consecutive life terms without life parole and 15 concurrent life terms for his crimes. She also agreed to waive her right to a jury trial and appeal.
District attorneys from the other nine counties where DeAngelo committed crimes were present at Monday’s hearing in Sacramento to give details of their crimes in court. Four months after DeAngelo’s arrest, prosecutors in the six counties where he was charged with murder agreed to consolidate their cases to guarantee the suspect’s right to a speedy trial.
DeAngelo, who was given several nicknames, including the Visalia Ransacker, the Eastern Area Rapist, and the original night stalker, broke into the homes of their victims while they slept, lit their faces with a flashlight, and tied them up. She then raped the resident women, leaving their husbands tied with plates on their backs so they could hear if they were trying to break free of their restraints. He also ransacked their homes, often stealing small items like cash and jewelry.
Decades after his crimes, the late true crime author Michelle McNamara investigated the case and brought it back to fame, giving the serial killer and rapist the nickname Golden State Killer. In 2013, McNamara and her team searched DeAngelo in genealogy databases after authorities released her genetic markers. Years later, investigator with the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office, Paul Holes, used the technique to identify DeAngelo.
Your book, Going into the dark: a woman’s obsessive search for the Golden State killer, which was released posthumously in 2018 just a few months before DeAngelo’s arrest, became a limited HBO series that premiered on Sunday night.
Over the course of several hours on Monday, prosecutors described the circumstances surrounding each of DeAngelo’s crimes as he sat with his lawyers, wearing an orange suit and a face mask in a ballroom in Sacramento state. He appeared frail and thin and spoke in a weak voice while responding with “guilty” and “I admit” when the judge read the accused and the unaccused charges.
More than 150 people, including victims and relatives of victims, attended the hearing, according to the Sacramento Bee. After the hearing, prosecutors discussed the decision to accept the guilty plea, saying that while it was difficult to accept life in prison without the possibility of parole, conducting a death penalty trial could have led to delays. expensive.
“[The victims] deserves to see the defendant die in prison as a convict and not simply as the defendant, and that is why we chose this result, which I think is a fair and just result in this horrible case, “said the district attorney for the Ventura County, Greg Totten.
Under the plea agreement, DeAngelo victims and victims’ families will have the opportunity to speak at their sentencing without a time limit. His sentencing hearing is scheduled to begin on August 17.
