The Golden State Killer – also known as the Original Night Stalker and the East Area Rapist – carried out a dozen-year crime wave beginning in 1974 that included killing at least 13 people and rapi…
A plea deal for the accused Golden State Killer, requiring he admit to a series of rapes and murders that terrorized residents across California in the 1970s and 1980s, brings justice to those who have waited decades for one of the state’s most notorious killers to be sentenced, a prosecutor told a judge on Monday.
Joseph DeAngelo, a former police officer who was arrested in 2018 after authorities identified him through DNA, appeared before his surviving victims and the relatives of those he is accused of killing in order to accept a plea deal that spares him the death penalty but will almost certainly leave him behind bars for the rest of his life.
A frail-looking DeAngelo struggled to rise when Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael G. Bowman entered the courtroom.
He sat with his head listing to the side, his mouth open, for much of the hearing, answering simply “yes” or “no” when questioned by the judge.
Sacramento County Deputy District Attorney Amy Holliday noted that the crimes are all more than 30 years old, and that many victims, witnesses and law enforcement officials involved in the investigation have died, with some of those who remain in their 80s and 90s.
She told the judge that the plea deal will allow them to hear DeAngelo admit to committing the crimes and to be present for the sentencing.
“The time for justice stands before us now,” Holliday said.
Under the plea deal, DeAngelo is expected to be sentenced to 11 consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
