Two Death Sentences Upheld

The state Supreme Court upheld two death sentences today, one of them for a San Diego mutilation murderer whose sentence had been overturned by the Rose Bird court in 1985.

The previous reversal of Bernard Hamilton’s death sentence was on the grounds that the jury had not found that his killing of Eleanore Buchanan in 1979 was intentional. The current court, following a U.S. Supreme Court decision, has eliminated the requirement of a finding of intent to kill, clearing the way for today’s 6-1 ruling affirming Hamilton’s sentence. In the other case, also a 6-1 ruling, the court upheld the Contra Costa County death sentence of James Richard Odle for fatally beating and stabbing a Pinole woman in 1980 and killing a police officer in a gun battle when police caught up with him three days later.