Jury Urges Death Penalty for Man Who Killed 7

After only one day of deliberation, a jury on Friday recommended the death penalty for Richard Farley, who admitted killing seven people while in a rage over unrequited love.

As the judge read the verdict, Farley, who has remained unemotional throughout the trial, turned to his attorney, who patted him on his shoulder.

Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Joseph F. Biafore Jr. will sentence Farley Jan. 17, after hearing a motion from the defense for modification of the sentence.

During closing arguments of the penalty phase of the trial, Farley’s attorney invoked God in pleading for the life of his client who once said he would “smile for the cameras” if he went to the gas chamber.

“Richard Farley is also one of God’s children,” defense attorney Gregory Paraskou said. “What Richard Farley did was wrong, very wrong. But Richard Farley is not an evil person.”

But Assistant Dist. Atty. Charles Constantinides said Farley was a coldblooded killer who did not show remorse for the slayings, methodically carried out as he finished off some victims with shotgun blasts in the back.

On Oct. 1, the same jury found Farley guilty of killing seven people in the Feb. 16, 1988, rampage at the offices of a Sunnyvale defense firm. Farley had said he went to the office to get the attention of a former co-worker, who rejected the quiet computer engineer.

Laura Black, the object of Farley’s 3 1/2-year obsession, survived to testify that she never encouraged Farley, who was fired for harassing her two years before the attack.