Retrial Jury Recommends Death for Killer of 3

For the second time in 17 years, a Van Nuys jury has recommended the execution of Robert Bloom Jr., who murdered his father, stepmother and 8-year-old stepsister.

Bloom looked dazed Thursday as he heard the verdict that concluded his three-month retrial. He represented himself after firing his court-appointed attorneys and dropped his insanity plea.

Prosecutors called Bloom, 37, a sociopath who deserves to die for the 1982 Sun Valley murders he committed at age 18.

“He’s evil,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Dmitry Gorin, recounting how Bloom once stabbed another inmate in the neck and had threatened prosecutors during the retrial. “He’s a complete danger to society.”

Melanie Bostic, Bloom’s mother, said he deserved sympathy.

“My son’s mentally ill and should be in a mental hospital, not a gas chamber,” she said. “He has double personalities.”

Jurors found him guilty of the first-degree murder of Robert Bloom Sr. and the second-degree murders of his stepmother, Josephine Lou Bloom, and stepsister, Sandra Hughes. But they were split, 9 to 3 in favor of sanity, on whether he was insane when he shot them.

As the case headed toward a hung jury--which would have led prosecutors to seek a retrial--Bloom decided two weeks ago to drop his insanity defense.

Bloom later regretted his strategy. Last week in a telephone interview from jail, Bloom said he was disappointed that Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Darlene Schempp would not allow him to hire his lawyers back.

Schempp said she found Bloom articulate, highly intelligent and competent to represent himself.

Bloom’s lawyers had argued that he had been severely abused by his father and was insane at the time of the killings.

After he fired his attorneys, Bloom told jurors he had been an award-winning high school mock trial attorney and that his insanity plea was hogwash. He zealously cross-examined witnesses, subpoenaed a judge, used legal terminology and made frequent objections.

Bloom told jurors he felt no remorse for killing his father and called the deaths of his stepmother and stepsister a “necessary evil.” The next time around, he said, he would be “a better killer.”

“It was disturbing to listen to,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Shellie Samuels.

Josephine Bloom’s uncle, Charles A. Simpson, said his family was heartened that jurors saw Bloom for what he was--an intelligent, coldblooded killer.

Bloom was sentenced to death in 1983 after his first trial. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1997 overturned the verdict because his first lawyer mounted an inadequate psychiatric defense.

Bloom will be sentenced again Jan. 19.