Capital Punishment

Man Set On Fire At Long Beach 7-Eleven Dies

Updated at the bottom with the suspect charged today with capital murder. Prosecutors claim he was "lying in wait." First posted at 7:07 a.m. A man set on fire in front of Long Beach 7-Eleven has died, Long Beach police announced. The horrific attack, allegedly by a homeless man, was captured on t ... More >>

Christopher Dorner's Facebook Account Searched As Part Of O.C. Murder Investigation

The Orange County District Attorney's office today indicated that it searched Christopher Dorner's Facebook account, where his famous manifesto was said to have been posted, as part of the investigation into his alleged murder spree. The office said it would have sought the death penalty against hi ... More >>

Ka Pasasouk, Suspect In Northridge Quadruple Murder, Charged In Capital Case

The man cops say gunned down four people in a shocking quadruple murder in Northridge last month was formally charged in connection with the crime today. The L.A. County District Attorney's office announced that Ka Pasasouk was hit with capital murder after the LAPD said he shot Teofilo Navales, Ro ... More >>

Proposition 34 Election Results: Death Penalty Repeal Goes Down in Defeat

California voters chose not to repeal the death penalty, Proposition 34. Los Angeles County voters actually voted to end the death penalty, backing Proposition 34 by a wide margin of 1,191,545. or 54.04 percent Yes, to 1,013,477, or 45.96 percent No. But the local vote was not nearly enough to ov ... More >>

California Voter Guide for Nov. 6, 2012, Los Angeles Weekly

Confused about the measures and races on Tuesday's ballot? This California Voter Guide for November 6, 2012 contains a summary of all state measures and several key races. It does not take a position but does touch on controversies, polls and analysis. Proposition 30: Jerry Brown's Tax Hike Governo ... More >>

Damien Echols

Death Row Records Photographer 
Simone Green Has the Last Laugh

By Jesse Serwer At the height of Death Row Records' notoriety, Simone Green's job was to document daily activity at the label. Naturally, then, she was able to fill a book with the details. "The last time I'd seen bullying that went on like it did at Death Row, I was in elementary school," says Gr ... More >>

INCENDIARY: The Willingham Case Review

Carmen Trutanich A No-Show At District Attorney's Debate, As Six Prosecutors Spar For The Top Job

Carmen Trutanich: Uninvited?​The race for L.A. County District Attorney has been a quiet affair up to this point. The leading fundraiser, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, hasn't even officially declared. Meanwhile, the declared candidates -- half a dozen prosecutors -- are mostly unknown to the gen ... More >>

VIDEO: Greg Kading's Book Says Sean Combs, Suge Knight Ordered Tupac and Biggie Killings

In the pages of his potentially game-changing self-published book Murder Rap, set for release Oct. 4, former Los Angeles Police Department Detective Greg Kading reveals that LAPD has been sitting on extensive tapes and documents containing confessions from key players behind the alleged assassinatio ... More >>

Texas Ends Last Meals for Death Row Prisoners

Guzzle & NoshNo more last meal requests for brisket from Texas death row inmates.​Texas will stop serving final meals to death row inmates after a state lawmaker complained about an inmate's absurdly large last supper. Lawrence Brewer, who was executed last Wednesday in Huntsville, requested a ... More >>

Sarah Palin & Captial Punishment in New Films By Broomfield and Herzog in Toronto

Werner Herzog​ Friday was Foreign-Born Documentary All-Stars Tackle Powerful Symbols of America day at TIFF. The scarily prolific Werner Herzog (whose first foray into 3D, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, premiered at this festival last year before its blockbuster theatrical run this summer) is back ... More >>

D.A. Seeks Death Penalty for 'Grim Sleeper' Suspect Lonnie Franklin Jr.; Alleged L.A. Serial Killer to Cost Taxpayers More Millions

LAPDLonnie David Franklin Jr.​Lonnie Franklin Jr., the man on trial for allegedly killing 10 women and attempting to kill one more (her survivor's tale, here), maybe be pleading "not guilty" to the charges -- but his lawyer seems to be the only one buying that story. According to the Associat ... More >>

Did L.A. D.A. Steve Cooley's Attack Ads Against Kamala Harris Backfire?

Did Steve Cooley let Kamala Harris have this one?​In his look at why L.A. District Attorney Steve Cooley probably lost the race for Attorney General, LA Weekly staff writer Gene Maddaus notes that the lawman kicked back like a longtime Washington incumbent, letting San Fran D.A. Kamala Harris ... More >>

Steve Cooley Paints California Attorney General Race Opponent Kamala Harris As Soft On Crime In UC David Debate

AP / Rich Pedroncelli​Steve Cooley and Kamala Harris duked it out during their first and only debate in the race for California Attorney General. Republican L.A. District Attorney Cooley painted Harris as soft on crime and somewhat of a bleeding heart liberal who's opposed to the death penalty ... More >>

California Death Row Countdown: Four From L.A. And Inland Empire Cleared To Die In California's $853,000 Gas Chamber This Month

​It's almost funny that they call it "corrections." Six people on the Golden State's Death Row are expected to get their breathing permanently corrected this month, with Albert Greenwood Brown, Jr. set to be the first  executed in nearly five years. Of the six who officials tell the Weekly a ... More >>

Harold Yong Park Charged With Three Counts Of Capital Murder In West Hollywood Triple Slaying: Pot Robbery Suspected As Motive

Google Maps​The man arrested in connection with a shocking triple murder in West Hollywood was charged Wednesday with three counts of capital murder, a move that could have "death penalty" written all over it if the suspect is convicted. Thirty-one-year-old Harold Yong Park, who also faced sp ... More >>

'Onion Field' Killer Gets Parole Hearing

​A man serving a life sentence for the kidnapping and execution murder of a Los Angeles police officer in a case made famous by Joseph Wambaugh's book The Onion Field (and an eponymous movie) is up for parole Wednesday. The union representing rank-and-file Los Angeles police is opposing parol ... More >>

Rodney Alcala: The Fine Art of Killing

One man’s murderous romp through polite society

Murder Was the Case: L.A. Homicide No.'s 290, 291, 292: Pregnant Woman's Alleged Killer Set to be Arraigned December 17

The 22-year-old felon who allegedly raped and fatally stabbed a pregnant woman in Venice is set to be arraigned December 17. Eun Kang​ Boneetio Washington of Culver City allegedly sexually assaulted and stabbed to death Eun Kang, a 39-year-old Korean woman, in her apartment in the 1600 bloc ... More >>

60 Freeway Killer Pleads Guilty to Two More Murders

The "60 Freeway Killer" pleaded guilty today to killing two women, more than twenty years ago. Ivan Hill, 48, was already serving a death sentence for the strangulation murders of six women who were found dead along the Pomona (60) Freeway when DNA linked him to the two additional murders. 60 Fre ... More >>

Is It Helter Skelter for Manson Girl Susan Atkins?

Susan Atkins, who is suffering from brain cancer, will be lucky to see the end of the year. In September, prison authorities quietly moved the 60-year-old Charles Manson follower (who has her own Web page) from an undisclosed hospital in Southern California to the Central California Women's Facility ... More >>

Timothy McGhee Sentence: Death Without Parole

With six sheriff’s deputies standing guard, a jury late this afternoon recommended that former Atwater Village gang leader Timothy McGhee be sentenced to death for the murders of three people. McGhee, 35, had been convicted of the murders last November, but the original jury deadlocked on whether ... More >>

Generally Patton

Charles Manson Follower Susan Atkins Denied “Compassionate Release”

The state Board of Parole Hearings on Tuesday denied a request for “compassionate release” to Charles Manson follower and convicted murderer Susan Atkins who is dying of brain cancer. In the summer of 1969, Atkins stabbed to death a pregnant Sharon Tate a gruesome 16 times at Tate’s Benedict ... More >>

Tookie and the Death Penalty

Blue Rage, Black Redemption

Splattered: An Interview with James Wan

Talking torture, politics and not-so-sweet revenge

Numero Uno's George Torres Faces Murder Charges

Rags-to-riches story of L.A. grocery king goes sour

Pierrepoint: Crime and Punishment

The problems of rehabilitating England�s Last Hangman

Please Turn Out the Lights When You Go

A Lesson Before Dying and Safety

Sex, Justice and the D.A.'s Office

Could a prosecutor�s affair with a stripper bring down a death-penalty conviction and Steve Cooley?

Foreplay and Justice

The case of a prosecutor who slept with a key witness

Moment of Truce

After a five-year war, Snoop and Tha Dogg Pound reunite for love, profits and West Coast pride. Ben Qui�ones catches the buzz.

What Would Jerry and Rocky Do?

Tookie�s Saving Grace

Can the convicted killer�s inspirational books persuade the governor to spare him?

AB

Local Boy Makes Good

How Ronald Reagan, a hometown embarrassment, became a world-class embarrassment

The Devils' Advocates

How Arkansas� West Memphis Three went from convicts to L.A.�s cause c�l�bre

Trouble for a New Death Row

Freedom From the Test

Free Radical

Country maverick Steve Earle vs. the Nashville machine

L.A. County's 10

Death-row inmates and mental retardation

Lost in a Maze

More puzzles than clues in new Rampart book

The Unforgiven

Stories of the condemned and exiled

A Brush With Life

Letters

Liberty and Justice for All

The Democratic Party platform you won�t see

Death on the Menu

More Endorsements

Can�t Kill for Trying