California IN BRIEF : SAN JOSE : Serial Rapist May Get Death Penalty

A confessed serial rapist faces possible execution after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder for shooting one of his victims, a teen-age Japanese exchange student. The verdict against Gregory Calvin Smith, 30, includes the special circumstances of kidnaping and rape, which means Smith could be sentenced to death. A jury will determine if Smith should be executed or go to prison for life. The 16-year-old victim, Ai Toyoshima, survived long enough to give a description of her attacker, who left her bleeding in a school playground after her spine was severed by a bullet. Police found Toyoshima after her host family got a telephone call from her attacker. Smith memorized the telephone number and agreed to call for help after Toyoshima begged him, he said.