Suspect in Grim Sleeper case gets new lawyer

A Los Angeles judge postponed arraignment Monday for a South Los Angeles man accused of being the so-called Grim Sleeper serial killer because a new defense attorney is taking over the case.

Lonnie David Franklin Jr., who will be arraigned Aug. 23, was previously represented by public defenders. But he appeared in court Monday with attorney Louisa Pensanti, who said she was taking the case pro bono. She did not give a reason for working on the high-profile case for free.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Hilleri G. Merritt said she did not want to interfere with the attorney-client relationship but noted that Pensanti would be taking on a case the court described as a “tremendous endeavor” that could take two to three years to wind its way through court.

Franklin, 57, faces charges of killing 10 women over more than two decades. He has been held without bail since his July 7 arrest, which came after undercover officers surreptitiously collected a sample of his DNA that authorities say matched evidence found at several crime scenes.

The former city sanitation worker and Los Angeles Police Department garage attendant allegedly killed seven young African American women between 1985 and 1988 in South Los Angeles.

Police said he resurfaced in the same area 14 years later, striking three more times, with the most recent killing in 2007. The 14-year gap led to the killer’s nickname of the Grim Sleeper.

Pensanti, a relative unknown, declined to answer any questions outside court except to say that the public should withhold judgment until the conclusion of legal proceedings and that her client was doing fine and had the support of his family.

andrew.blankstein@latimes.com