Judge Puts Off Kraft’s 16-Count Murder Trial at Least Until January

The Orange County trial of Randy Steven Kraft, accused of killing 16 young men, was postponed Thursday until early next year, despite vigorous protests from the district attorney’s office and members of victims’ families.

Superior Court Judge Luis A. Cardenas postponed the June 30 trial date to Jan. 12 at the request of Kraft’s attorneys. And he indicated that he might even postpone it to March 2, the date the defense wanted, if the lawyers insist in January that they need more time.

“I am very, very reluctant to postpone this trial,” Cardenas said. “But I also have very, very grave reservations about pushing this forward when three well-respected attorneys come to me and say they are not ready. I really don’t have any choice.”

Complexity Is ‘Unprecedented’

Cardenas added that the magnitude and complexity of the case “is unprecedented in this county’s history” and merits the extra time to prepare.

Kraft, 41, a Long Beach computer consultant who is a native of Orange County, was arrested nearly three years ago and charged with the 16 murders. But the district attorney’s office has accused him in court papers of 21 other murders in California, Oregon and Michigan, accusations it plans to make in the trial.

Prosecutors also plan to present a list found in Kraft’s car that they claim is a roster of victims. It has 64 entries.

Cardenas said he does not want the case to end up like the Juan Corona murder trial in Yuba City in 1973. Corona was found guilty of 25 murders, but the case had to be retried after his conviction was reversed.

“Whether Mr. Kraft is found guilty or innocent, we don’t want to have to go to the expense, or put anyone here through, a second trial,” Cardenas said.

Kraft has three court-appointed attorneys. Two work on the case full time. The third spends about half his time on the case.

Expenses Monitored by Judge

A record of the Kraft expenses, all paid by the county, are monitored by Cardenas and sealed to the public and to the district attorney’s office.

Prosecutors told Cardenas at a hearing Thursday that it seemed the defense attorneys have had enough time and money to prepare for trial.

“Mr. Kraft has the right to a fair trial, but he does not have the right to . . . build this case into a small bureaucracy,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. James P. Cloninger. No murder trial should take more than three years, Cloninger contended.

The judge also heard objections from several family members, including Rodger DeVaul of Buena Park, whose son, Rodger DeVaul Jr., 20 at the time of his death, is among the 16 Kraft is charged with killing.

DeVaul testified when the hearing began last week: “Haven’t we been punished enough? Should we have to go through another 11 months of this?”

‘What Have They Been Doing?’

DeVaul also asked what the defense attorneys have been doing for three years. Cloninger said Tuesday that he thought DeVaul had a good point.

“What have they been doing for three years?” Cloninger asked.

But James G. Merwin, one of Kraft’s attorneys, argued that considering the number of killings the defense must investigate, the pace has been rapid.

“It is not unreasonable for a defense lawyer to take a year to prepare for one murder case,” Merwin said. “We are virtually ready on 13 of these cases, and I think that’s quite an accomplishment.”

William J. Kopeny, another Kraft attorney, argued that the need to interview witnesses in three states and computerize 85,000 pages of documents makes it impossible to be ready in January.

Kraft himself had something to say about the delay.

In a statement Kopeny read to the court, Kraft said that he agreed to waive his right to have a trial this summer but that the delay to 1987 was forced upon him by the “massive over-piling” of charges against him by the district attorney’s office.