Obsessed Lover Found Guilty of Murdering 7

A man who killed seven people during a 1988 office rampage blamed on unrequited love was convicted Tuesday of first-degree murder and could face the death penalty.

Relatives of Richard Farley’s victims said they hope he will be sent to the gas chamber.

“The death penalty is absolutely what I want to see,” said Bob Silva, who drove 100 miles from Solano County nearly every day to attend the trial of the man who killed his brother, Joe Silva. “He should die.”

After six days of deliberation and a trial lasting nearly three months, the jury convicted Farley of seven counts of first-degree murder, five counts of attempted murder and one count each of second-degree burglary, felony vandalism and assault with a deadly weapon.

Farley, 43, had pleaded not guilty. He showed no reaction when the verdicts were read.

The assault charge was for shooting Laura Black, a former co-worker at ESL Inc. in Sunnyvale who was the object of Farley’s 3 1/2-year love obsession. Farley and Black were computer engineers who worked in different departments.

Farley testified that he fell in love with Black the first time they met and began stalking her after she rejected his requests for dates, writing her more than 100 love letters. A week before the slayings, Black got a court order to keep Farley away.

Black, now 30, survived to testify against Farley. She was not in court when the verdicts were read.