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Penalty phase to begin in Rodney Alcala trial
SANTA ANA — The penalty phase will begin Tuesday in the trial of Rodney Alcala, convicted last week of killing a Huntington Beach girl and four Los Angeles County women more than 30 years ago.
The seven-man, five-woman jury will have the choice of recommending the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Alcala, 66, had been convicted and sentenced to death twice previously for killing 12-year-old Robin Samsoe on June 20, 1979, but both convictions were overturned on appeal. Last week, was the first time he was convicted of the other four killings.
Deputy District Attorneys Matt Murphy and Gina Satriano will have two of Alcala's victims take the stand to tell jurors what they faced when Alcala attacked them. The prosecutors were not allowed to go into the details of those crimes during the guilt phase of the trial.
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One victim was 8 years old when Alcala sexually assaulted and beat her with a 12-inch pipe in 1968. Alcala fled to the East Coast after that but was arrested in 1971. One of his rape victims in 1979 will also testify.
Alcala said last week he does not have any witnesses to call to the stand, but instead will read testimony from previous trials into the record.
The jury reached the verdicts on its second full day of deliberations Thursday. The panel began deliberating late last Tuesday.
Alcala was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder, along with a single count of kidnapping Samsoe.
In addition to killing the girl, Alcala was convicted of murdering Jill Barcomb, an 18-year-old runaway who was killed in a remote area of the Hollywood Hills on Nov. 10, 1977; Georgia Wixted, a 27- year-old registered nurse killed on Dec. 16, 1978; Charlotte Lamb, 32, slain on June 24, 1978; and Jill Parenteau, 21, who was killed June 14, 1979.
Jurors also found true a variety of special circumstances -- including torture, rape, kidnapping and multiple murder -- making Alcala eligible for the death penalty.
Robin Samsoe disappeared near the Huntington Beach Pier on June 20, 1979, while on the way to ballet class.
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Her badly mutilated body was found in the Angeles National Forest 12 days later. Investigators could not determine whether the girl had been sexually assaulted or the cause of death because of the condition of her body, which had been attacked by animals.
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