Death Sentences Upheld Against Killer and Rapist

The state Supreme Court upheld two Los Angeles County death sentences Monday, one of them for an amateur photographer who strangled two would-be models in 1984.

The court ruled 6 to 1 that Bill Bradford’s rights were not violated during his trial’s penalty phase, in which he prevented family members from being called as witnesses, asked to represent himself and told jurors to “think of how many [murders] you don’t even know about.”

One victim, Shari Miller, 21, had told friends she had a job modeling motorcycle clothes in the desert. Her body was found in a Culver City parking lot two days later. Tracey Campbell, 15, who lived next door to Bradford, disappeared after her brother overheard Bradford talking about a modeling job with her. Her body was found in the desert near Lancaster a month later.

In a second case, the court unanimously upheld the death sentence of James Robert Scott, who raped a Palmdale woman, beat and choked her and set her bed on fire. She was awakened by her 5-year-old daughter and managed to carry the girl to safety but died of her burns 10 months later.

The court said the victim, Wanda Jensen, probably would have survived if she had gotten proper medical care. But even negligent care did not excuse Scott from criminal responsibility for her death, the justices said.