COUNTYWIDE : Kraft Defense to Ask for Sentencing Delay

Attorneys for Randy Steven Kraft, who was convicted of murdering 16 young men in Orange County, will ask a Superior Court judge today to delay his sentencing for 30 days.

Kraft’s jury had returned a death verdict, and sentencing was set for Oct. 27. But Judge Donald A. McCartin had told the attorneys when the verdict was returned on Aug. 12 that he probably would grant them more preparation time if they needed it.

Kraft attorney C. Thomas McDonald said the defense was still preparing several matters to present to the court. One of them, according to co-counsel James G. Merwin, could be the issue of a single trial for all 16 murders.

The defense had asked the judge before Kraft’s trial began in July, 1988, to break up the 16 murder charges into multiple trials, a move aimed at reducing the risk of inherent jury prejudice against their client because of the sheer number of murders. McCartin refused.

But Merwin said the issue was considered so critical to the Kraft case that he may bring a new motion on it before Kraft is sentenced. While he knows McCartin almost certainly will deny any motion for a new trial based on that issue, it would be part of the record reviewed by the state Supreme Court.

Although prosecutors are now expected to oppose the monthlong delay, the judge has scheduled a brief hearing for this morning to hear the defense lawyers’ arguments.

Kraft, 44, a Long Beach computer consultant, is considered by prosecutors as perhaps the worst serial killer in the United States. They have accused him of 45 murders but say the total could be greater than 60.

McCartin has the authority to reduce the jury’s death verdict to life without parole. However, no Orange County judge has done that since the new capital punishment law was enacted in 1977. McCartin already has sentenced six men to Death Row, all of them now awaiting appeals.