Trial of ‘Grim Sleeper’ in US nears closure
Print Edition
THE trial in the United States of the alleged “Grim Sleeper” Lonnie Franklin Jr headed to a close yesterday after months of testimony about a serial killer who stalked women during the 1980s crack cocaine epidemic, then laid low for 14 years before renewing the grisly sex attacks.
Closing arguments began in the morning and could last two days. Franklin, 63, could face the death penalty if convicted.
He is charged with killing nine women and a 15-year-old girl between 1985 and 2007. They were shot or strangled and their bodies were dumped in alleys and trash bins in south Los Angeles and nearby areas.
He also is charged with the attempted murder of a woman who survived being shot in the chest and pushed out of a car in 1988.
At his trial in February, the woman identified Franklin and said he took a Polaroid photograph of her after the attack.
Prosecutors said a photo showing the wounded woman slouched over in a car was found in Franklin’s possession when he was arrested in 2010.
Prosecutors said many of the victims were drug-addicted prostitutes.
Prosecutor Beth Silverman told jurors that Franklin targeted women “willing to sell their bodies and their souls in order to gratify their dependency on this powerful drug.”
Prosecutors also alleged that firearms and DNA evidence connects Franklin to the killings.
Franklin’s lawyers, however, said that DNA samples taken from “Grim Sleeper” victims didn’t match Franklin.
Defense attorney Seymour Amster told jurors last month that many victims had DNA from more than one man on their bodies and that more than 20 DNA tests excluded his client.
Authorities dubbed the killer the “Grim Sleeper” because of a gap between killings between 1988 and 2002.
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