Local News in Brief : ‘Freeway Killer’ Gets June Execution Date
A Superior Court judge has ordered William George Bonin, convicted of the so-called “Freeway Killer” sex slayings of 10 men and boys in Los Angeles County, put to death in San Quentin Prison’s gas chamber in June.
Judge Jean E. Matuskinka on Friday set a June 23 execution date following a recent state Supreme Court ruling that rejected Bonin’s appeal of his death sentence.
However, Bonin has not exhausted all of his appeals under federal law, and his attorneys said they will ask a federal court to stay the execution order and overturn his sentence. Bonin, who was sentenced to death in a separate trial involving four murders in Orange County, has also lost a state Supreme Court appeal in that case.
He has admitted to killing 21 people, Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Ernie Norris said.
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