Killer’s Appeal Given New Life

In a new development in Orange County’s longest-running death sentence appeal, a federal court said Wednesday that it will reconsider whether a man convicted of killing a Garden Grove woman 21 years ago should be put to death.

William Charles Payton’s case has crawled its way through the court system since his 1982 conviction and death sentence for stabbing Pamela Montgomery a dozen times with a butcher’s knife. Payton also repeatedly stabbed another woman and her 10-year-old son at the home, but they survived.

After years of appeals and delays, it appeared Payton’s case might finally reach a conclusion in August when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cleared the way for Payton’s execution.

But Wednesday, the judges announced they would review their decision upholding the death penalty for Payton, now 47. The court did not disclose the reason for the turnabout or indicate when it would take up the case.

The court’s decision prompted a sharp response from Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas, who said it could result in years of additional litigation.

“Every time this case surfaces, the poor victims have to relive it,” Rackauckas said. “It hurts not just the victims in this case, but the people in California have to wait so many years for justice. It hurts us all.”

Attorneys for Payton could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening.

If the appeals court eventually throws out the death sentence, local prosecutors would probably have to impanel a new jury to consider what penalty Payton should receive.

The latest chapter in the Payton appeals saga centers not on his guilt but on evidence presented at the penalty phase of his trial.

During the trial, attorneys for Payton presented evidence that their client had become a devout Christian while behind bars and taught a Bible study class. An Orange County prosecutor told the jury Payton’s religious conversion wasn’t “really applicable.”

In 1999, U.S. District Judge Manuel Real overturned the death sentence, ruling that the prosecutor’s comment was unfair.

But in August, the 9th Circuit reinstated the death penalty, finding that the prosecutor’s statement was inappropriate but it did not deprive Payton of a fair penalty trial.

“We cannot conclude that the penalty phase of Payton’s trial was infected with such unfairness as to render his sentence a denial of due process,” Judge Pamela Ann Rymer wrote at the time.

The crime took place in a boarding house where Payton once lived. Payton was convicted of stabbing Montgomery--whose husband was oversees in the military--a dozen times. He then stabbed Patricia Pensinger 40 times and her 10-year-old son 23 times before fleeing.

Since 1992, 12 convicted killers have been executed on San Quentin’s death row, including three from Orange County. Payton is one of 46 death row inmates from Orange County.