Jury Votes Death for Child Killer

An Orange County jury voted unanimously today to send convicted child killer Theodore Frank to the gas chamber for the 1978 torture-slaying of 2-year-old Amy Sue Seitz. Frank, 51, sat motionless as the verdict was read.

The jury had deliberated 3 1/2 hours before reaching its decision after a four-week penalty trial. Frank was first convicted and sentenced to death in 1979 for the brutal slaying of the girl, whom he abducted from her grandmother’s home. He later forced her to drink alcohol, then tortured her with pliers before strangling her. Last year, the state Supreme Court upheld Frank’s conviction but reversed his original death sentence, ruling that Frank’s diaries used in the first trial were seized illegally.