'Golden State Killer' Joseph DeAngelo Jr, 74, 'will plead GUILTY to 88 charges including rape and murder to avoid the death penalty in violent crime spree that terrorized the Bay Area in the 70s and 80s
Joseph James DeAngelo, the alleged 'Golden State Killer', escapes a death sentence under a proposed deal with prosecutors that requires him to plead guilty to 88 charges, including murder and rape.
The deal, revealed by sources, has yet to be finalized in the courts.
Court officials also are working on locating a venue big enough under coronavirus safety measures to allow crowds of family members of the victims and media expected when the former cop accepts the deal.
Although there is a moratorium on the death penalty in California, DeAngelo will likely not spend too many years in prison because of his advanced age.
Joseph James DeAngelo, the alleged 'Golden State Killer', escapes a death sentence under a proposed deal with prosecutors that requires him to plead guilty to 88 charges, including murder and rape. He is pictured during his arraignment after he was arrested in April 2018
Sacramento County Supervising Assistant Public Defender Joseph Cress tells the Sacramento Bee that the agreement will bring closure to the families.
'We feel this is a just resolution of this case and that the resolution provides some finality and closure for the victims,' Cress said Monday.
'This also avoids the stress and financial costs of a lengthy trial.'
DeAngelo is suspected of at least 13 murders and more than 50 rapes across California in the 1970s and 1980s, and hundreds of home invasions.
The statute of limitations has expired on those crimes, however, making them impossible to charge.
DeAngelo, however, was arrested in April 2018 on the basis of groundbreaking genetic genealogy evidence.
He previously had indicated no willingness to accept a plea deal. But sources have indicated that he has reversed himself on many of the previous charges under the current deal.
DeAngelo was arrested in April 2018 on the basis of groundbreaking genetic genealogy evidence. He previously had indicated no willingness to accept a plea deal. The accused killer is pictured in an undated law enforcement photo
Six counties had consolidated their cases in Sacramento County, and four of those counties were seeking the death penalty before the deal was revealed.
Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Steve White had allowed prosecutors, over defense objections, to take four more cheek-swab DNA samples from DeAngelo as they tried to link him to old crimes.
Public defenders were looking for a way prosecutors in Sacramento, Contra Costa, Orange, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura counties to agree to a deal that scraps plans for a preliminary hearing that was set to begin in August.
Prosecutors had been pressing to get the hearing, which would have included 150 witnesses testifying over eight to 10 weeks, under way as soon as possible because many victims and witnesses are in their 80s or older.
Investigators surreptitiously collected DNA from DeAngelo more than two years ago that they say proves he is the rapist who broke into couples' suburban homes at night, binding one man and piling dishes on his back.
A pioneering method of building a family tree from old crime scene DNA, using a popular online DNA database to find a distant relative and eventually zero in on DeAngelo.
The new process has since been used nationwide in other cases.
DeAngelo was taken on into custody by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department on April 24, 2018 on two murder charges for the 1978 deaths of Brian Maggiore and his wife Katie, who are believed to be the Golden State Killer's first murder victims.
DeAngelo was taken on into custody by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department on April 24, 2018 (pictured) on two murder charges for the 1978 deaths of Brian Maggiore and his wife Katie, who are believed to be the Golden State Killer's first murder victims
He was later also charged with the murders of Lyman and Charlene Smith who were found dead in their home by their 12-year-old son in 1980.
Despite an outpouring of thousands of tips over the years, DeAngelo's name had not been on the radar of law enforcement before the ground breaking DNA evidence was used.
Investigators said DeAngelo has three adult daughters. An old wedding announcement says he married Sharon Marie Huddle in 1973, according to the Sacramento Bee . They are now divorced.
DeAngelo appeard gaunt during a court appearance in March
DeAngelo previously worked as a police officer in Auburn, California before he was fired in 1979 for shoplifting a hammer and dog repellent from a Sacramento drug store. He was also a police officer in Exeter, California from about 1973 to 1976.
Investigators believe he was committing the crimes while he was an officer.
Before he retired last year, DeAngelo had been working at a distribution center for Save Mart grocery stores. He worked the for 27 years.
