Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., a 74-year-old former police officer, also known as the Golden State Killer, who had a rape, murder, and burglary spree over a 12-year period in the 1970s and 1980s in California and has just been sentenced to life in prison Friday.
DeAngelo was sentenced to 11 consecutive life terms without parole, plus 15 life terms with the chance of parole and eight years. It was the maximum sentence the judge stated.
DeAngelo pleaded guilty to 13 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of kidnapping for robbery. For a plead deal with prosecutors, he admitted guilt to 50 rapes and more than 120 burglaries.
DeAngelo said in court after listening to victim impact statements, “I’ve listened to all your statements, each one of them, and I’m truly sorry to everyone I’ve hurt.”
According to BuzzFeed
Decades after terrorizing communities across California, the serial killer and rapist known as the "Golden State Killer" pleaded guilty to more than two dozen charges and admitted to committing numerous other crimes Monday.
Joseph James DeAngelo, a 74-year-old former police officer, pleaded guilty to 13 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of kidnapping for robbery. He also admitted guilt "to all other charged crimes and uncharged crimes," including at least 50 rapes and more than 120 burglaries as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.
"This has been a very long journey for justice," Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said during a press conference. "It has been said a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. For so many there is little doubt that this journey felt like a thousand miles."
In her remarks, Schubert, whose office led the prosecution of the case, called DeAngelo "the real life version of Hannibal Lecter," a "sociopath," and "master manipulator."
"We now have moved this monster not simply from just being caught to now standing convicted," Schubert said.
