People and the News

The execution of mass murderer William Bonin again revived the debate over capital punishment. A team of Times Orange County edition reporters chronicled the days leading up to the execution, and the event itself.

AWARD

Orange County Press Club

1st Place (tie): News Story

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‘Freeway Killer’ Executed

By KEN ELLINGWOOD, J.R. MOEHRINGER and REBECCA TROUNSON

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Feb. 23, 1996

SAN QUENTIN--William G. Bonin, the notorious “Freeway Killer” who seared his way into the nation’s consciousness with a string of sadistic murders 16 years ago, was executed at San Quentin Prison early today, becoming the first person in California to die by lethal injection.

Bonin, a former Downey truck driver who confessed to raping, torturing and killing 21 boys and young men, was put to death in the prison’s converted gas chamber. Bonin was declared dead at 12:13 a.m.

At 10:47 p.m., the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a desperate, last-minute appeal by Bonin’s attorneys to spare his life. Earlier Thursday, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, then a larger panel from the same court, refused to block the execution.

Outside the prison gates, hundreds of death penalty opponents and supporters engaged in raucous, often angry demonstrations, becoming increasingly confrontational as the night wore on.

Bonin, 49, was the third prisoner in California to be executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

One of the most prolific killers in U.S. history, Bonin spent Thursday peacefully, prison officials said, reading his mail and chatting with relatives, friends and attorneys.

Moved at 6 p.m. to a special “death watch” cell beside the execution chamber, Bonin ate a final meal of coffee ice cream and pepperoni and sausage pizza, and watched the television game show “Jeopardy.” . . .

Bonin appeared resigned and met with a Catholic chaplain. “He’s communicating well and seems relaxed,” said San Quentin spokeswoman Joy Macfarlane.