Recent Posts in Murder Category

A former insurance claims adjuster who was suspected of terrorizing women in the 1970s as the Westside Rapist has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for seven murders that were committed in two waves of killings and sexual assaults.

John Floyd Thomas was sentenced for the killings that took place in a area stretching from Inglewood to Claremont. Police describe him as one of the California's most prolific serial killers, saying that he is still a suspect in at least 10 to 15 additional murders.

Police said the sexual attacks targeted women who ranged in age from their 50s to their 90s, many of whom lived alone. He broke into their homes at night and raped and choked his victims until they passed out or died. His sentence was part of a plea deal with prosecutors that was described as an act of pragmatism rather than an act of mercy.

She noted that capital punishment was not legal in California when all but one of the killings Thomas admitted to were committed. She said the death penalty would not have been relevant in this case because Thomas would probably die in prison during his appeals, given his age.

Thomas was born in Los Angeles and was raised by an aunt and his godmother after his mother died when he was 12. He attended public schools, and briefly joined the U.S. Air Force in 1956. At Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, he received a dishonorable discharge. The next year, he was convicted of burglary and attempted rape, which put him in prison for nearly almost 10 years. After his release, police noticed a string of assaults on elderly white women. The attacker was dubbed the Westside Rapist at the time.

The attacks appeared to stop in 1978, when Thomas was convicted and sentenced to prison for the rape of a Pasadena woman. After his release in 1983, he moved to Chino, coinciding with a wave of rapes and killings that began in the Pomona Valley area.

The Westside Rapist faded from public memory and authorities made limited progress in the Claremont killings until 2004, when the LAPD matched male DNA taken from two of the crime scenes. The final break in the case came in October 2008, when two officers collected DNA from Thomas while trying to identify the so-called Grim Sleeper serial killer, who was linked to homicides in South Los Angeles starting in the 1980s. Several months later, detectives learned that Thomas' genetic profile matched DNA evidence from four of the killings he admitted in court.

Police will conduct an intensive investigation following a murder or sexual assault. Therefore, if you are criminally charged, you will need a skilled criminal defense attorney from Marks & Brooklier. Criminal defense lawyers  Donald Marks and  Anthony Brooklier have been successfully representing clients for murder and rape charges for decades. They have the experience necessary to provide you with skilled criminal defense in all Los Angeles County Courts. It takes a dedicated legal team to fight a murder or sexual assault charge, and with our firm you can feel condifent that we will provide you with the highest quality criminal defense team. Our Los Angeles criminal defense lawyers are aggressive in the court room and look forward to defending your case. Contact us for a free case consultation.

The bodies of Phong Le, 30, his wife, Ngoc "Trish" Lam, 25, and their son Tommy, were found in separate bedrooms in their Garden Grove home. They had been bound, gagged and stabbed multiple times. The couple's infant daughter, dehydrated but alive , was found next to the body of her mother.

During the trial, Deputy District Attorney Scott Simmons argued that Le had borrowed $80,000 from Quan but never paid it back. That was the motivation for the murders, he said. Quan, who has two prior strike convictions for robbery and assault with a deadly weapon in 1990, was sentenced by Orange County Superior Court Judge William R. Froeberg.

Police will conduct an intensive investigation following a murder. Therefore, if you are charged, you will need a skilled homicide attorney from Marks & Brooklier. Murder criminal defense lawyers Donald Marks and Anthony Brooklier have been representing clients for murder charges for decades and have the resources and experience necessary to provide you with skilled criminal defense. It takes a dedicated legal team to fight a murder charge, and with our firm you can feel condifent that we will provide you with the highest quality criminal defense team possible. Our Los Angeles homicide and murder criminal defense lawyers are aggressive in a court room setting and look forward to assisting you with your case. Contact us for a free consultation, 24/7.

Authorities using DNA evidence have linked a 44-year-old convicted murderer and rapist on death row to a 1990 double homicide in Riverside County. Alfredo Rolando Prieto, who is already on California's death row and who recently received the death penalty for a murder in Virginia, was linked to the slayings of Stacey Siegrist, 19, and Anthony Gianuzzi, 21, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said.

On May 5, 1990, a jogger discovered the victims’ bodies along a dirt power line access road west of the intersection of Canal and Alta streets in Rubidoux. The two were dating and had not been seen for nearly two days. Both had been shot once in the side of their heads and once in the back of their necks. Siegrist had also been sexually assaulted.

Earlier this year, Riverside County’s cold case unit submitted evidence from the crime scene to a private laboratory. The lab linked the DNA to Prieto. The department said it delayed notifying the public to ensure Virginia jurists were not influenced during the penalty phase of Prieto’s trial there. Prieto has been linked to nine murders and four sexual assaults, including the 1992 murder and rape of 15-year-old Yvette Woodruff of Ontario, the crimes for which he was sentenced to death. He is appealing his California death sentence.

In 2005, preliminary DNA tests implicated him in three 1988 Virginia slayings. Prosecutors from Fairfax County, Va., extradited Prieto from California to face trial for two of those murders. Prieto has operated with three other accomplices in the past, and authorities believe the Rubidoux murders involved one or two additional suspects.

If you have been arrested or under investigation for murder, it is important that you consult a Los Angeles homicide and murder criminal defense attorney immediately to begin planning of your legal defense. A conviction for murder can result in a lifetime sentence in a California penitentiary or even the death penalty.

Los Angeles Police will conduct an intensive investigation following a murder. If you are criminally charged, you will need an experienced murder criminal defense lawyer from Marks & Brooklier. Attorney's Donald Marks and Anthony Brooklier have been successfully representing clients for murder or homicide charges for over four decades. They have the skill necessary to provide you with an exceptional criminal defense. We will conduct our own thorough investigation of the facts and study all evidence obtained against you in order to present a strong defense. Our Los Angeles homicide criminal defense lawyers are aggressive and are well-versed in a court room setting and look forward to assisting you with your case. Contact us for a free consultation, 24/7.

Michael Dean Stephens, a 21-year-old, was convicted of murder in the 2007 Stevenson Ranch death of Joshua Pipho. Stephens was found guilty on one count of second-degree murder; however, the jury was unable to come to a decision on an attempted murder charge involving a second victim who was stabbed more than a dozen times but survived.

After the jury announced that it was deadlocked on the second charge, Judge Daniel Feldstern declared a mistrial. A decision on whether to retry the attempted murder count is expected to be announced later.

Pipho was among a group of young men who got into a fight with another group at a condominium complex on Nov. 24, 2007. The dispute got out of hand, as about 10 to 15 people were involved in the melee, which culminated with Pipho's killing. The Deputy District Attorney argued in court that Pipho, was stabbed and then run over by a car driven by Stephens. His sentencing is scheduled at North Valley Superior Court. He faces up to 17 years to life in prison.

Law Enforcement will conduct an intensive investigation following a murder. Therefore, if you are eventually charged, you will need an experienced homicide attorney from Marks & Brooklier. Criminal defense lawyers Donald Marks and Anthony Brooklier have been representing clients for murder charges for over four decades and have the resources and experience necessary to provide you with skilled criminal defense. It takes a dedicated legal team to fight a homicider charge, and with our firm you can feel condifent that we will provide you with the highest quality criminal defense team possible. Our Los Angeles homicide and murder criminal defense attorneys are aggressive and are well-versed in a court room setting and look forward to assisting you with your case. Contact us for a free consultation, 24/7.

A Rowland Heights, California woman was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder in the 2007 deaths of her husband and two young sons in the family's townhouse. Manling Tsang Williams, could face the death penalty because the Pomona jury also found her guilty of the special circumstances of multiple murders and lying in wait.

On Aug. 7, 2007, Williams called police to report that she had come home from grocery shopping at 7:30 a.m. and found her husband and her children dead. At the time, neighbors said that Williams ran from her house screaming that her husband had been injured. When Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies arrived and searched the house, they found the bodies of Neal Williams, 27; Devon Williams, 7; and Ian Williams, 3. Prosecutors say Williams stabbed her husband to death with a sword and smothered their two sons, who were in their bunk beds in an upstairs bedroom, with a pillow. Manling Williams was arrested for the murders on Aug. 8.

A medical examiner testified during the trial that Neal Williams had been slashed and stabbed more than 90 times with a Samurai sword. The jury returned its verdict one day after closing arguments and final instructions. Testimony in the penalty phase now begins,  during which the same jury will have to decide between the penalty of death or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Police will conduct an intensive and thorough investigation following a murder. Therefore, if you are eventually charged, you will need a skilled homicide lawyer from Marks & Brooklier. Criminal attorneys Donald Marks and Anthony Brooklier have been representing clients for homicide charges for three decades. It takes a dedicated legal team to fight a murder charge, and with our firm you can feel confident that we will provide you with the highest quality criminal defense team possible. We will conduct our own investigation of the evidence in order to present a strong defense. Our Los Angeles murder criminal defense attorneys are aggressive and well-versed in a court room setting and look forward to assisting you with your case. Contact us for a free consultation, 24/7.

In Santa Ana, California, jurors will begin deliberations in the re-trial of a Washington man accused in the cold-case murder of his estranged wife. William Gregory Mordick, 64, maintains he is innocent of the Jan. 22, 1983, slaying of Katherine O'Connell Mordick, a 28-year-old mother of two young girls. Katherine's body was found partially nude inside her Anaheim Hills home. Her throat had been slashed. There was no evidence of sexual assault and nothing was stolen from the home.

Authorities charged Mordick, who eventually moved with the couple's two daughters to Washington, with the crime in 2008. They said DNA technology not available in 1983 linked him to physical evidence at the crime scene. Deputy District Attorney Dan Wagner accuses Mordick of killing his wife that morning when he dropped by to pick up his daughters, ages 2 and 4 at the time, to bring them to a birthday party.

Mordick, who is charged with special circumstances murder for financial gain, was worried about paying approximately $124,000 in child support over a span of 16 years, Wagner said. By killing Katherine, Mordick could avoid the payments and gain full custody of his girls, he said. Forensic evidence – specifically blood found in several areas the home – links Mordick to the killing, Wagner said. He also accused Mordick of staging the crime scene, such as taking off his wife's clothing to make it appear she was sexually assaulted.

Mordick, who testified in his own defense, said he didn't kill his wife. He said Katherine was alive that morning when he picked up their children. Katherine's body was found the next day, when her brother and boyfriend came to the home, worried because Katherine wouldn't pick up her phone.

His defense attorney said his client is innocent, and that some of the forensic evidence was tainted or inconclusive. He pointed out that a deputy coroner's estimate of Katherine's time of death was in the afternoon, and Mordick last saw his wife that morning. Mordick was first tried for Katherine's murder last year. That first jury deadlocked 6-6.

Jurors in the re-trial, which is being held in the courtroom of Orange County Superior Court John D. Conley, heard closing arguments and were read jury instructions. The panel is tasked with deciding if Mordick is guilty of first-degree murder, meaning a killing made willfully, deliberately or with premeditation, or second-degree murder, a non-premeditated killing. If they convict him of first-degree murder, they also have to decide on the truth of the special circumstance of financial gain. Mordick's maximum penalty would be life in prison without the possibility of parole.

If you have been accused or charged with homicide, it is important that you obtain a highly qualified Los Angeles homicide criminal defense lawyer immediately to begin planning of your defense. A conviction for murder can result in a lifetime sentence in a California penitentiary or even the death penalty.

Los Angeles Police will conduct an intensive and thorough investigation following a murder. Therefore, if you are charged, you will need an experienced homicide attorney from Marks & Brooklier. Attorney's Donald Marks and Anthony Brooklier have been representing clients for murder charges for three decades and have the experience necessary to provide you with an exceptional criminal defense. It takes a dedicated legal team to fight a homicide charge, and with our firm you can feel condifent that we will provide you with the highest quality criminal defense team possible. Our Los Angeles murder criminal defense attorneys are aggressive and are well-versed in a court room setting and look forward to assisting you with your case. Contact us for a free consultation, 24/7.