Murderer Guilty of Another Killing

A Superior Court jury convicted Dean Phillip Carter on Wednesday of first-degree murder with special circumstances, as well as the rape of another victim and other felony counts.

Carter, 36, was convicted in the April 12, 1984, killing of 24-year-old Janette Anne Cullins, a Pacific Beach woman who was found strangled in her apartment at the end of Carter’s California crime spree.

Carter is already on death row for convictions related to the murders of three Los Angeles-area women killed no more than two days before the death of Cullins.

The jury deliberated slightly more than one day before convicting Carter of the murder and ruling that he committed the act while lying in wait, as well as during the course of a robbery and burglary.

Carter was also convicted of forcible rape and oral copulation in a March 25, 1984, attack on a 45-year-old Clairemont woman.

Because of the special circumstance findings, Carter either will be sentenced for the fourth time to die in the gas chamber or he will be ordered to spend the rest of his life in prison.

The jury that convicted Carter will begin considering a recommendation to make to Superior Court Judge Melinda J. Lasater Tuesday morning. Lasater will make the final decision about a sentence.

Carter has also been convicted of raping a 22-year-old waitress in Ventura, for which he was sentenced to 56 years in state prison.