Long Road to Kraft’s Execution

Every time I drive north on Interstate 5 near the Oso Parkway exit in Mission Viejo, my mind wanders back to that spring night almost 15 years ago when Randy Kraft was stopped there by two California Highway Patrol officers.

Kraft’s auto had weaved across the lanes, so the officers stopped him for a sobriety test. What they discovered was a dead hitchhiker--a Camp Pendleton Marine--in the front seat next to him. The dead man’s pants were pulled down; he’d been drugged and strangled with his own boot laces.

Kraft, we now know, was one of the country’s worst serial killers. After a lengthy trial delay, he was convicted of 14 Orange County murders. But prosecutors put his death toll closer to 45, based on other evidence and a coded death list of his victims he kept in the trunk of his vehicle.

I bring this up because when I drove past that spot Wednesday, I happened to remember: It was eight years ago this week that Kraft was sentenced to San Quentin’s death row.

Legal pundits at the time predicted it would take at least 10 years for Kraft to exhaust all his appeals and face execution. So after eight of those 10 years, how’s he doing? Looks like he’s going to be with us quite a while longer.

As slow as it’s been, though, there’s been more movement on Kraft’s case this year than any of the previous seven. His attorney has finally filed his opening brief with the state Supreme Court, and the attorney general recently filed a reply brief. But Deputy Atty. Gen. Warren Robinson, assigned to oppose Kraft’s appeal, says it will likely be 1999 before the state’s highest court decides the Kraft case.

Then comes a new round of state appeals.

Then comes a round of federal appeals.

I asked Robinson if we could say that, after eight years, Kraft’s case is at least halfway through the appeals process?

“Anybody’s guess would only be a wild guess,” he said. “I can only say maybe.”

Actually, there have been two Kraft cases moving through the courts: Kraft’s appeal against the state, and Kraft’s case against his own attorney. He wants a new one.

In documents loaded with legalese, Kraft has complained that his attorney’s brief on his behalf is “inconcise, incomplete, inaccurate . . . in poor taste, and inane.” Kraft also complains that his attorney, Richard Power of Shingle Springs, Calif., “developed [the brief] in secret.” So far, Kraft has lost on changing attorneys.

“Randy Kraft is quite litigious,” Robinson said. “This could affect how quickly this case progresses.”

It’s Robinson who comes to Power’s defense. “The brief was more than 600 pages, the largest that anyone in this office has ever seen,” he said. It claimed 28 errors that Kraft’s lawyer contends should result in a new trial.

Having covered Kraft’s trial, I was curious what errors could possibly merit such a move. Most of the brief relates to the search warrants for Kraft’s car and his Long Beach home, plus admission into evidence of parts of the “death list,” Robinson said. “There is nothing that really worries us,” he added.

Robinson has lived with this case for most of those eight years of appeals. Appellate prosecutors never see the defendant in a death penalty case, so, of course, Robinson has never met Kraft.

“But I hope to someday,” Robinson said.

Meaning: He will represent the attorney general’s office the day Kraft is eventually executed.

Rain Alert: I notice that Capt. Scott Brown of the Orange County Fire Authority will be talking about El Nino before a group of homeowner association members later this month. Brown said most homeowners are likely not prepared in the event of a major storm pattern.

“Because of awareness over El Nino, every time there is any rain at all people are getting panicky,” he said. “That tells us that there are a lot of people out there who don’t know what to do.”

One thing you can do is call the Fire Department in your area if you want more information on El Nino preparedness. Brown’s office is putting together a handbook on the subject.

Cause for Alarm: One certain step necessary for El Nino or any home emergency: Make sure you have smoke alarms--and that they work. El Nino rains, for example, can short out electrical lines and cause a blaze.

The American Red Cross’s Orange County chapter on Saturday will install smoke alarms free in 100 homes in the New Horizon Neighborhood Assn. in Santa Ana. Located near McFadden Avenue and Raitt Street, the neighborhood has been identified by the Santa Ana Fire Department as an area where many homes are without smoke detectors.

The alarms have been donated by the Orange County Area Agency on Aging.

Wrap-Up: This may seem quite a dubious honor, but I was the only reporter to interview Kraft at the Orange County Jail after his arrest. It led to one of his lawyers leaving his case (Kraft had not spoken very kindly about him in our interview).

Kraft requested the interview. His idea was that we would meet weekly; he’d feed me information representing his position, and I would be his conveyor belt to get his, uh, good side, before the public.

After my story based on that first interview came out, Kraft immediately canceled any more interviews: I made a lousy conveyor belt. He kept wanting to talk about the police picking on him because he’s gay. I kept asking about all those dead bodies connected to him through a mountain of physical evidence.

I did write him a letter at San Quentin once--old acquaintances should stay in touch--but he never answered. It could be he still holds a grudge. Or maybe he’s just been too busy.

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax to (714) 966-7711, or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com