Jury Deadlocks on Sentence in Killings
A jury announced it was deadlocked Wednesday over whether to recommend the death sentence or life in prison without parole for a man convicted of strangling four women, including two of the 18 Southside Slayer victims.
But Superior Court Judge Janice Clair Croft refused to declare a mistrial in the penalty phase of the murder trial of Louis Craine, and ordered the jury to resume its deliberations.
The jury is trying to decide whether to recommend a death sentence or life in prison without parole for Craine, 32, an unemployed construction worker. Craine was found guilty April 26.
His conviction stemmed from the strangulations of four women, including two whose deaths were investigated by a task force looking into a series of slayings in South Los Angeles.
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