COUNTYWIDE : Judge Postpones Kraft Sentencing

Superior Court Judge Donald A. McCartin agreed Friday, over prosecution objections, to postpone sentencing for convicted serial killer Randy Steven Kraft to Nov. 29 at the request of defense lawyers.

Kraft, whose jury returned a death verdict in August, had been scheduled for sentencing Oct. 27. But his lawyers told the court they simply were not ready with a variety of motions they expect to present, primarily in an attempt to win Kraft a new trial.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Bryan F. Brown objected to any delay. The district attorney’s office has repeatedly objected over the past several years to numerous delays in the proceedings in the Kraft case.

Kraft, now 44, who was a Long Beach computer consultant, is considered by prosecutors perhaps the worst serial killer in the United States. They have accused him of 45 murders in Southern California, Oregon and Michigan. But they say the number could be greater than 60.

The judge has the authority to reduce the verdict from death to life without parole. However, no Orange County judge has reduced a verdict since the new capital punishment law was enacted in 1977. McCartin has already sentenced six other men to Death Row, all of them now awaiting appeals on their cases.