Sponsored message
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen

This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.

This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

News

Most Evil Pizza Man in LA Sentenced To Death

Truth matters. Community matters. Your support makes both possible. LAist is one of the few places where news remains independent and free from political and corporate influence. Stand up for truth and for LAist. Make your year-end tax-deductible gift now.

Last month an LA jury agreed that Chester Turner should suffer the death penalty. The 40 year-old Turner had been found guilty of killing ten people including one woman who was 6 1/2 months pregnant. Today Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders agreed with the jury.

[Turner] was convicted April 30 of 10 counts of first-degree murder, plus one count of second-degree murder for the death of one victim's fetus. That victim, Regina Washington, 27, was 6 1/2 months pregnant when Turner strangled her with an electrical cord behind a vacant house in September 1989. Washington's sister, Elgedine Rudolph, was among eight victims' relatives attending Tuesday's hearing who conveyed the anger and sorrow they've shared. Although Turner looked at each of the speakers, Rudolph said she could not even turn toward him and said she misses Washington deeply. - AP

Turner, a pizza deliveryman, had earlier been found guilty of raping a homeless woman on Skid Row.What we find interesting is that even though the fellow seems like the lowest form of living creature, there were no witnesses to any of his crimes. However, modern technology, the unblinking eye of a video camera, is what probably put the nail in his eventual coffin.
There were no witnesses to any of the killings, but a security camera recorded Vance's murder, and the footage was played for jurors. Turner also is suspected but has not been charged with four other killings. David Allen Jones, a mentally disabled janitor, was convicted of three of them but was freed after DNA evidence cleared him, prosecutors said. Jones, 44, was released in 2004 after 11 years in prison and was awarded $720,000 in compensation.

photo by MReece via flickr
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our connected community. We are free to tell the full truth, to hold power to account without fear or favor, and to follow facts wherever they lead. Our only loyalty is to our audiences and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen our community.

Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.

If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.

Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief

Make your tax-deductible year-end gift today

A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right