'Grim Sleeper' has been sentenced to death

August 11, 2016 07:57

A garbage collector convicted of the "Grim Sleeper" killings that terrorised southern Los Angeles for more than two decades was sentenced to death.

Lonnie David Franklin, 63, had been convicted of 10 counts of first-degree murder for the killings of nine women and a 15-year-old girl between 1985 and 2007.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy told victims' relatives and friends that the sentencing would be unlikely to give them "closure."

"Your loved one, your daughter, your sister, your mother, your friend is still gone," she said.

"Hopefully there is some measure of justice you'll feel, but closure isn't what this trial was about."

During Franklin's three-month trial, which ended in May, the prosecution presented evidence it said linked him to the killings of another four women, although the authorities suspect he is behind dozens more murders.

After the sentencing, Franklin's attorney Dale Atherton dismissed California's death row system as "a joke" and voiced doubts over whether the punishment would ever be carried out.

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

Let's not talk about the throw, it was not up to it: Neeraj Chopra

Neeraj Chopra won again, but not in the manner he would have liked to, and he had no qualms in admitting it.

Southwest Monsoon to reach Kerala on May 31 amid El Nino concerns

"This year, the Southwest Monsoon is likely to set over Kerala on May 31 with a model error of four days," the India meteorological department said on Wednesday.

In Pictures - Clinical Punjab Kings hand Rajasthan Royals fourth loss on the trot

Despite a well-tuned 48 from local hero Riyan Parag, Rajasthan Royals struggled against an array of accurate bowlers on a rather slow pitch, meandering to a sub-par 144 for nine against Punjab Kings in their IPL match in Guwahati on...

T20 creates the perfect form of cricket: Usain Bolt

It comes as no surprise when the world's fastest man Usain Bolt says that the fastest form of cricket is his favourite one and feels more fans in the Caribbean and world over will choose the T20 format over Tests going forward.

1 dead, 14 rescued after lift collapses in Rajasthan mine

Fifteen personnel of the public sector company got trapped in a mine Tuesday night when a cage used to carry the personnel fell down after a rope broke, police said.