Execution Stayed So Killer Can Hire Lawyer

A federal judge postponed the scheduled execution of child killer Theodore Frank for 45 days to allow him time to hire an attorney to represent him in a new round of appeals.

In an order issued Friday, U.S. District Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler granted Frank’s request to delay his execution, which had been scheduled Dec. 6, Deputy Atty. Gen. Jeffrey J. Koch said.

Frank, convicted of kidnaping, raping and killing a toddler in 1978, also asked Stotler to appoint an attorney for him, but she has not ruled on that.

Frank’s requests are routine steps taken before filing a writ of habeas corpus, in which a defendant challenges the constitutionality of being held in custody, Koch said.

It could be months--even years--before the string of federal appeals is completed, Koch said.

Frank, 56, was convicted in 1980 of abducting Amy Sue Seitz, 2 1/2, of Camarillo from her baby-sitter’s yard. He forced her to drink beer, then tortured and mutilated her, raped the child, strangled her and dumped her body in Topanga Canyon.

Six weeks before the murder, Frank had been released from a state psychiatric hospital, where he had been housed for sexually assaulting a 4-year-old girl. He later admitted that he has molested at least 100 children.

Frank, who was tried in Orange County because of the extensive publicity about his case in Ventura County, appealed his conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court, without success. On Oct. 11, Orange County Superior Court Judge John J. Ryan scheduled the Dec. 6 execution date.