Court Disregards Killer’s Age, OKs Sentence of Death

The state Supreme Court unanimously upheld on Monday the death sentence of a Long Beach man who was 18 when he raped and strangled a girl and a woman.

Francis Gerard Hernandez is believed to be the youngest, at the time of his crime, of the 49 men whose death sentences have been affirmed in California since the state’s death penalty was restored in 1977. Under state law, the minimum age for a death sentence is 18.

The court said that neither Hernandez’s age nor the effects of alcohol and marijuana, which he said he had been taking before the killings, required a reduction in his sentence.

Youth No Excuse

“Defendant’s youth cannot be equated with immaturity and panic so as to explain this conduct,” said the opinion by Justice John Arguelles. “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.

“These two young women met horrible deaths after rapes and sodomies of exceptional brutality.”

He said another defense claim, that Latinos were not adequately represented on the panel from which the jury was selected, was not raised or documented by Hernandez’s lawyer at the trial as required by law. In any event, six of 111 prospective jurors had Spanish surnames, suggesting at least that “Hispanics were not totally unrepresented,” Arguelles said.

45 Sentences Upheld

Since conservatives gained a majority on the court last year, 45 of 60 death sentences have been upheld. Arguelles, who announced last week that he was retiring from the court next March 1, has voted with the majority in all but one of the 45 affirmances.

The body of the first victim in the case, Edna Bristol, 21, was found nude in a grassy area near a Long Beach junior high school in January, 1981. The second victim, Kathy Ryan, 16, was found five days later, also nude, in another grassy area close to a nearby high school.

Police said both victims had been bound with tape and hit in the mouth.

Hernandez, arrested a day after the second killing, told police that he had killed both victims unintentionally, the court said.

He said he had picked up Bristol hitchhiking, had consensual sex with her, and bound her and held her down when she started kicking and screaming, not realizing that he was killing her.

He said he met Ryan at a park a few nights later, took her for a drive, had consensual sex and killed her accidentally during a struggle after she kicked and screamed.

Ample Evidence

The court said there was ample evidence for the jury to conclude that both victims were sexually assaulted, a finding that would make both killings capital murders even if the deaths were unintentional.

Hernandez admitted using force, and coroner’s reports showed that many of the injuries were inflicted before death, Arguelles said.

He also said both victims were attacked in Hernandez’s van, from which the only exit was the door on the driver’s side.

In addition, Hernandez’s statements that he had been drinking and using marijuana did not preclude the jury from finding that he acted intentionally, Arguelles said.