D.A. to Ask Death Penalty for Deputy Tied to Deaths

Prosecutors said Monday that they will seek the death penalty for Rickey Samuel Ross, the veteran sheriff’s deputy with the unblemished record who is accused of shooting to death three South-Central Los Angeles prostitutes.

Ross, wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, stood somberly between two sheriff’s deputies in Los Angeles Municipal Judge David S. Milton’s courtroom and said little during the brief proceedings. His formal arraignment on the three murder charges was postponed until March 10.

Four ballistics experts have independently tied a handgun--reportedly a 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol--found in Ross’ car to bullets recovered from the three dead women, Deputy Dist. Atty. Harvey Giss said.

“Each of those four states that this gun found in Mr. Ross’ trunk caused the death of these three persons,” the prosecutor said.

Defense attorney Jay Jaffe sought the arraignment delay, saying he needed more time to digest the prosecution’s evidence. Jaffe told reporters that even if the gun found in the trunk of Ross’ unmarked county car was used in the killings, prosecutors still must prove it was Ross who fired the fatal shots.

Jaffe earlier told The Times that Ross denied any involvement in the killings. The deputy will plead not guilty, the lawyer said.

Samples of Ross’ blood were taken by investigators Monday, apparently to compare with blood or semen stains found with the victims, Jaffe said.

Ross, 40, has been a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy for 18 years, most of the time with the narcotics unit. He grew up in South-Central Los Angeles in the general area where the murder victims were found. Colleagues and acquaintences have uniformly described him as a religious man whom no one would have suspected as a serial killer.

Giss said the district attorney’s office will seek the death penalty. The prosecutor said the multiple murders constituted the “special circumstances” required under California law in capital cases.

During the short court appearance Ross stood with his arms folded across his chest, partially obscuring the design on the T-shirt, which carried a picture of a motorcycle and the words, “Honest, I heard them bikers talkin’ about ridin’ hogs and lookin’ for chicks.”

Two Harley-Davidson motorcycles are registered to Ross, according to Department of Motor Vehicles records. Acquaintances said he belonged to a motorcycle club whose members included other law enforcement officers.

The only words Ross spoke in court Monday were to give his name and respond, “Yes, it is,” when asked by the judge if it was all right to delay his arraignment.

Ross is accused of murdering one woman each month between October and December, 1988. The victims were identified as Judith Simpson, 27; Cynthia Walker, 35, and Latanya Johnson, 24.

For his own protection, Ross had been housed alone in a cell at the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters at Parker Center since his arrest Thursday. After his court appearance Monday, he was transferred to the county’s Men’s Central Jail, operated by the Sheriff’s Department, where he will also be housed in a solo cell without bail.

Ross was arrested at his home in Rialto in San Bernardino County after ballistics tests tied the handgun found in his car to the murder victims. A second gun found in the car has also undergone ballistics tests, an LAPD investigator said, but the results are being kept confidential.

Officers found the guns after making a routine traffic stop. A prostitute who was with Ross told officers he had frightened her.

Since mid-1985 there have been a series of prostitutes strangled, stabbed or shot in South-Central Los Angeles. While suspects have been apprehended in a few of the cases, dozens more are unsolved.

Times staff writers Bettina Boxall and William Overend contributed to this article.