State High Court Denies Stay of Execution for ‘Freeway Killer’

The state Supreme Court on Thursday refused a bid to block the Feb. 23 lethal-injection execution of serial killer William G. Bonin.

In a brief order, the court rejected as “without merit” arguments that Bonin did not receive a fair trial on grounds that his attorney was inept and that prosecutors hypnotized one witness and used the perjured testimony of a jailhouse informant.

The court also refused a stay based on arguments that Bonin, convicted in the murders of 14 boys and young men in Los Angeles and Orange counties, was denied a choice of execution method. And the justices in San Francisco disagreed that trial judges jumped the gun in setting the Feb. 23 execution date.

“We are obviously quite disappointed. We really thought the court would perceive this as an issue,” said Deputy State Public Defender James R. Ramos, a member of Bonin’s defense team.

Ramos said that Bonin’s lawyers will take their case to federal courts in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

They will renew Bonin’s bid to name new defense attorneys, asserting that the team in the public defender’s office should have spotted sooner key issues now raised on appeal.

Prosecutors hailed the court’s decisions.

“We think this proves our claim that Mr. Bonin had a full and fair hearing the first time around,” said Steve Telliano, spokesman for Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren.

Telliano called the last-minute maneuverings “another attempt to unnecessarily delay” death sentences imposed by courts in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Bonin, known as the “Freeway Killer,” was convicted in separate trials of killing 14 young males, whose bodies were dumped along roadsides or behind buildings, in 1979 and 1980.