Jury Says Stalker Deserves Gas Chamber for Killing 13 : Sentencing Set Nov. 7 in Grisly Case

The jury that convicted devil-worshipping drifter Richard Ramirez of the grisly Night Stalker serial murders today recommended that he die in the gas chamber.

Ramirez, dressed in black shirt and pants and minus his usual dark sunglasses, rocked back and forth in his chair as the judge read the jury’s repeated recommendations of the death sentence.

Ramirez was found deserving of the death penalty on 19 special circumstances ranging from burglary to sex crimes and the special circumstance of multiple murders. Under California law, special circumstances make a defendant eligible for death.

The shaggy-haired Ramirez peered around the room crowded with reporters and spectators but showed no reaction as the word “death” was pronounced 19 times by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Tynan.

Five-Day Decision

The jurors, who had taken five days to decide the question of life or death for the convicted Night Stalker, did not look at the defendant as the verdicts were read. But when the judge asked each of them individually if the decision on the ultimate penalty was theirs they answered in firm voices, “Yes, your honor.”

The judge, who has the option to reduce the sentence, set Ramirez’s sentencing for Nov. 7. It appeared unlikely that he would change the verdict to the only other possibility, life in prison without parole.

Tynan thanked the jurors profusely for the year they had spent on the case. “I’m very proud of you,” he told them. “I know you had a tough time of it. . . . It was a very emotionally charged case. I want to thank you, for the public. God bless you.”

13 Murder Convictions

Ramirez was convicted on Sept. 20 of 13 murders and 30 related felonies in a string of nighttime attacks that terrified Southern California in the summer of 1985.

His crimes were extremely gruesome. In one case, a victim’s eyes were gouged out. In another, a woman was raped beside the body of her dead husband.

A prosecutor called for Ramirez’s execution and a defense attorney pleaded for mercy during closing arguments last week. Jurors began deliberations on the penalty last Thursday.

The jury was instructed to reach separate verdicts on each of 19 special circumstances which were attached to the murders, making the defendant eligible for the death penalty.

The jurors spent 22 days deliberating during the guilt phase of the trial.

The jury’s ultimate decision on penalty will be considered by Tynan as a recommendation only. Although the jurors recommend death, the judge has the option of reducing it to life without parole. If the recommendation had been life in prison, he could not have ordered death.

Under California law, if a jury becomes hopelessly deadlocked on sentencing, a new jury has to be impaneled and the penalty phase repeated, with testimony from witnesses and attorneys’ arguments.

Ramirez, a 29-year-old drifter from El Paso, Tex., has other trials pending when the Los Angeles case concludes. He is charged with a murder in San Francisco and an attempted murder in Santa Ana.