Death Penalty for Killer-Rapist of 2 Upheld by Court

The state Supreme Court on Monday upheld the death penalty for a convicted killer who, at age 18, raped and strangled a girl and a woman and dumped their nude bodies near public school grounds in Long Beach.

The justices unanimously rejected an appeal from Francis Gerard Hernandez, convicted of the mutilation murders of Edna C. Bristol, 21, and Kathleen Ryan, 16, in crimes occurring just five days apart in early 1981.

Under state law, capital charges may be brought only against defendants age 18 or older. And Hernandez is believed to be the youngest, at the time of the crime, of 49 convicted murderers sentenced to death since capital punishment was restored in 1977.

Lawyers for Hernandez had contended that the man’s attacks on the two victims were “spontaneous and inexplicable”--the likely product of too much beer and marijuana.

The attorneys argued that Hernandez had not acted with premeditation and malice and thus should have been convicted of no more than voluntary manslaughter.

Claims Rejected

However, the high court, in an opinion by Justice John A. Arguelles, turned down all of Hernandez’s claims, noting that the victims had been subjected to “exceptional brutality” and that the bites, cuts and burns inflicted on their bodies were “almost unbelievable.”

“(The) defendant’s youth cannot be equated with immaturity and panic so as to explain this conduct,” Arguelles wrote in the court’s 90-page opinion. “He did not just slap these women when allegedly they screamed and struggled; he did not fire a shot from a gun held too tightly. Instead, he bound, strangled and abused them.”

On another issue raised in the appeal, the court also rejected Hernandez’s contention that Latinos were not adequately represented on the panel from which the jury was chosen, denying him a jury reflecting a fair cross-section.

The justices said Hernandez’s trial counsel had failed to raise and provide data to substantiate the claim at the time of trial, as required by law, and thus there was no adequate record on which to weigh the contention.

However, in a footnote, the court said the trial transcript indicated that six of the 111 prospective jurors in the case had Spanish surnames.

“While use of such surnames to identify persons of Hispanic origin is an imperfect technique, it at least suggests that Hispanics were not totally unrepresented in this jury venire,” Arguelles wrote.

Deputy California Atty. Gen. Robert S. Henry welcomed the court’s ruling Monday, noting that the van that Hernandez drove--in which the attacks took place--had been equipped so that occupants could get out only through the driver’s door.

“In my own view, this basically could have been a Hillside Strangler case in the making,” Henry said.

Attorneys for Hernandez were not immediately available for comment.

Evidence of Brutality

Bristol’s body was discovered near Marshall Junior High in Long Beach on Jan. 21, 1981. Five days later, Ryan’s body was discovered not far away near Millikan High School. There was evidence that both had been beaten and bound and had suffered wounds to the breast and burns to the pubic area.

Hernandez, released from the California Youth Authority where he had been sent for burglary, was implicated in the crimes and finally admitted to police that he had been out with the two victims in his van on the nights they had died.

But he claimed that the victims consented to sexual relations and that he reacted forcibly only when they began to kick and scream. He had only meant to “quiet” them and had not realized they were asphyxiating, he said.

Hernandez contended also that he had consumed large amounts of beer and smoked marijuana, impairing his ability to know what he was doing.

However, the justices said there was considerable evidence that the killings took place in the commission of rape and sodomy, thus subjecting the defendant to the death penalty for felony murder, even if the deaths were not intentional.