Chester Dewayne Turner, the most prolific serial killer in the history of Los Angeles, was sentenced this morning to die for the murders of 11 people, including the unborn child of one woman.
An African-American prosecutor, Robert Grace, represented the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office in this case. This is the same brother who unsuccessfully went after Snoop Dogg when he has accused of being involved in a deadly shooting.
Turner, 40, was found guilty April 30 of murdering 10 women, including one who was pregnant, in South Los Angeles and downtown's skid row from 1987 to 1998.
Repeatedly proclaiming his innocence, Turner was ultimately convicted of strangling eight with his bare hands. Four of the killings took place within six blocks of Turner's home, where he worked as a pizza delivery man.
After eight family members -- all of whom were Black -- spoke about their respective loved one, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William Pounders said Turner's guilt was established "beyond all doubt."
The thick, shaved-head brother with a huge scar along the right of his face now joins the roster of the L.A. area's most notorious killers: Charles Manson, Night Stalker Richard Ramirez, Freeway Killer William Bonin and Hillside Stranglers Angelo Buono Jr. and Kenneth Bianchi.Turner, dubbed 'Chester The Molester' by school classmates, becomes the 665th inmate on California's death row. Over the last 30 years, the state has executed 13 death-row inmates; 12 have committed suicide.
DNA evidence linked the Warren, Arkansas native to all his victims, most of whom were prostitutes and Black. His identification cleared another man who had been wrongly convicted of two of his crimes.
Turner's brutal murders show "a level of cruelty rarely seen in murder trials," Judge Pounders said.
Turner raped and strangled his victims. Turner "not only took pleasure in torturing and killing the women, but he apparently got pleasure from seeing the pain he caused their families to endure when he went to dinners held in the homes of the victims' families after the funerals," according the report filed by Leon Alberts of the state probation department.
The victims, in the order they died, were Diane Johnson, 21; Annette Ernest, 26; Anita Fishman, 31; Regina Washington, 27, and her fetus; Andrea Tripplett, 29; Desarae Jones, 29; Natalie Price, 31; Mildred Beasley, 45; Paula Vance, 38; and Brenda Bries, 37.
Original story by John Spano, LA Times