Life Sentence Sought in Elgar Killings
A San Diego County prosecutor will seek life imprisonment for Larry T. Hansel, a laid-off electronics technician who is accused of stalking and killing two top executives at the San Diego electronics company where he had worked.
At Hansel’s arraignment Thursday in San Diego County Superior Court, Deputy Dist. Atty. Gregg McClain said the case involves special circumstances because Hansel, 41, is accused of shooting multiple victims during a rampage at Elgar Corp. in June.
McClain decided not to seek the death penalty, he said later, because he believes a jury would hesitate to order the execution of a mentally ill man. Hansel has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to two counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder, one count of burglary and two counts of igniting an explosive device.
“We’re not going to go for something that, looking at the evidence, we believe the jury wouldn’t give us,” said McClain, who said he recently added the attempted murder charges because there is evidence that Hansel was hunting other victims that he never found.
Hansel’s trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 14.
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