Local News in Brief : Southside Slayer Trial

A Compton Superior Court jury Tuesday completed its first day of deliberations without reaching a verdict in the murder trial of an unemployed construction worker who is accused of three of the so-called Southside Slayer homicides.

Louis Craine, 32, of Watts is charged with the strangulation murders of five prostitutes between November, 1984, and May of last year, including three linked to the killings investigated by the Los Angeles Southside Serial Slayer Task Force. He also faces five counts stemming from sex crimes that allegedly occurred during the slayings.

Deputy Dist. Atty. John Watson said he will seek the death penalty if Craine is convicted of first-degree murder.

Craine was linked to the Southside Slayer killers by Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates earlier this year after Crane admitted to detectives that he killed the women. But during his trial, Craine repudiated his confession, saying he lied because an admission of guilt was what the detectives “wanted to hear.”