Los Angeles Adult Entertainment: Arraignment Postponed for Grim Sleeper Suspect
Superior Court Judge Hilleri G. Merritt rejected a defense argument to ban cameras from the courtroom today. Deputy Alternate Public Defender Richard L. Sternfeld, appointed as Franklin’s new lawyer, had argued that due to the ongoing investigation, it would be prejudicial to allow the defendant to be photographed.
Family members of the victims sat in court watching the proceedings.
Before Franklin was identified as a suspect, investigators used forensic evidence to link eight murders between 1985 and 1988, and three murders between 2001 and 2007, to the same killer, Los Angeles police Detective Dennis Kilcoyne said.
The killer was dubbed the Grim Sleeper because of the 13-year break between killing sprees.
Many of the killer’s victims were prostitutes. Some were raped before being shot to death with a small-caliber handgun. Their bodies were dumped in alleys and trash bins in South Los Angeles, Inglewood and unincorporated county areas.
See the full article from “MyFox Los Angeles”