Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS. : COURTS : D. A. Seeks More Funds for Kraft Murder Cases

Randy Kraft, 41, a one-time computer consultant from Long Beach, may be accused of more killings than anyone in California history.

Prosecutors say Kraft is linked to a total of 64. He is charged with 16 murders in Orange County, and prosecutors have filed papers accusing him of 22 other slayings, with all of the victims being young men, many of whom were sexually assaulted or mutilated.

How do you defend someone against such a prosecutorial onslaught? With lots of effort and money. So much of both is being spent by the Orange County public defender on the Kraft case that now the prosecution needs a boost, Dist. Atty. Cecil Hicks said.

In a request to county supervisors for more manpower, Hicks said the defense costs in the Kraft case, all paid by the county, have risen to $2 million so far. Ten paid staff members, including four lawyers, are preparing the defense, Hicks said.

The figures were “reliably estimated” by his prosecutors, Hicks said. The actual figures are kept secret by court order, lest they prejudice potential jurors. The public defender’s office would react only by saying there are three, not four, defense lawyers on the case.

Hicks said he needs seven new positions in his office to offset the staff drawn full time into the Kraft case. Prosecutors say that more that 700 witnesses have been interviewed, resulting in more than 100,000 pages of investigative reports and 250 exhibits. And the case could go on for another two years, they said.

What’s more, there could be a string of Orange County trials for Kraft. The defense has petitioned the court to spread the charges over two or more trials.