An Orange County prosecutor is drawing attention to the crimes committed by some of the nearly 50 people on death row in his county, after Gov. Gavin Newsom called for clemency for California’s condemned prisoners.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer’s office said three of the inmates killed police officers. One was convicted of murdering at least 16 young men and is suspected in dozens of other deaths. Another killed an Arizona couple in an effort to finance gender-affirming surgery, which the article says was later performed while the inmate was in prison.
Among the cases highlighted by Spitzer’s office is Randy Steven Kraft, known by several nicknames, including the “Scorecard Killer.” He was convicted of raping, torturing and killing at least 16 young men between 1972 and 1983. Investigators have also suspected him in 51 other deaths involving young men and boys.
Gerald Parker, dubbed the “Bedroom Basher,” raped women during home invasions and killed five women and an unborn child in the 1970s. He was not linked to the crimes until DNA evidence identified him in 1996. He was sentenced to death two years later.
Steven Dean Gordon, who had previously been convicted of child molestation, and an accomplice killed at least four women between 2013 and 2014. Billy Joe Johnson, a member of a white supremacist gang, was involved in five murders. Spitzer’s office said Johnson asked to receive the death penalty.
Kevin Dewayn Boyce, a Crips gang member, killed off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy Shayne York during a 1997 robbery at a hair salon. York was there with his fiancée. After noticing York’s badge, Boyce called him a derogatory name for police and shot him in the head.
In 1996, California Highway Patrol officer Don Joseph Burt stopped Hung Thanh Mai in Fullerton. Mai shot Burt several times, then fired a final shot to his head, according to the account provided by prosecutors.
Orange County sheriff’s deputy Brad Riches was sitting in his patrol car in June 1999 when Maurice Gerald Steskal ambushed him with an AK-47, firing 30 times.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his accomplice, Skylar Deleon, became known as the “Yacht Killers.” Prosecutors said they kidnapped an Arizona couple in Newport Beach, tied them to an anchor and threw them overboard about 55 miles offshore. The killings were intended to raise money for Deleon’s gender-affirming surgery. Deleon, a former child actor born John Jacobson Jr., was also convicted of killing Anaheim associate Jon Jarvi in 2003.
John Joseph Famalaro, known as the “Cold Storage Killer,” abducted Denise Huber at gunpoint in 1991 after seeing her beside a road with a flat tire. He took the 23-year-old to a warehouse, sexually assaulted and restrained her, then killed her with a hammer and crowbar. He kept her body in an industrial freezer truck.
Spitzer is one of several California district attorneys opposing Newsom’s clemency plan. The state Supreme Court is expected to examine hundreds of cases before any commutations become final.
California has not carried out an execution in 20 years. Death row prisoners have generally not been included in criminal justice reforms that reduced sentences for other offenders. Spitzer has argued that commuting all 548 death sentences would show mercy to those convicted while disregarding the harm done to victims and their families. Critics also worry that commutations could eventually bring further leniency, including possible release.
Newsom’s office has responded that the prisoners would not qualify for the state parole board guidelines at issue. For now, they are not eligible under those rules.
