California’s last execution of a death row inmate was in 2006, and there is currently de facto moratorium on capital punishment in effect. The 751 inmates currently sitting on California’s death row at San Quentin prison aren’t currently in danger of being executed, but they might be in the next couple of years. There are only 20 women and 731 men, and the count is continuing to increase each month. Here are California’s most notorious killers currently on death row:
Wesley Shermantine
He, along with Loren Herzog, were dubbed the “Speed Freak Killers”—they murdered many in the rural Central Valley before being arrested in 1999. Herzog was released because of a botched investigation, but Shermantine continues to sit on death row.
David Joseph Carpenter
He murdered 6 women and one man along hiking trails in Marin and Santa Cruz counties between 1980 and 1981. Many of the women were raped before being murdered. The 8th would-be victim was able to survive and identify him to authorities.
Cary Stayner
This man killed 4 people—a 42 year old woman, her 15 year old daughter, and her longtime 16-year-old friend in one instance, and a 26 year old Yosemite nature guide just 16 months later. He was sentenced to death in 2002.
Joseph Naso
He strangled 4 Northern Californian women after raping them. He dumped their bodies along rural roads in the late 1970s and early 1990s. He was dubbed by the press “The Alphabet Killer” because the first and last names of his victims all began with same letter.
Darryl Kemp
He was a serial rapist who has already escaped one death sentence when the death penalty was declared unconstitutional in 1972. He was again sentenced to death for sexually assaulting and killing Armida Wiltsey at the Lafayette Reservoir in 1978.
Edward Wycoff
This man was sentenced to die for killing his sister and her husband in Cerrito because he thought they were too liberal, “too easy” on their children, and because they didn’t invite him for Christmas. He decided to serve as his own attorney during the trial. During the closing arguments, he tried to make joke stabbing a plastic bowl of cereal with a pen, saying “I’m a cereal killer.” Strangely, he ended up stabbing himself in the hand and bleeding. The jury in his case only deliberated for 45 minutes before sentencing him to death.
Richard Allen Davis
This case is one of the landmark ones that in some ways provoked the implementation of harsh sentencing laws, which are now being reformed via Proposition 47 and other initiatives. In 1993, he kidnapped 12 year old Polly Klaas from her bedroom at knifepoint during a slumber party at her Petaluma. The police questioned him about the kidnapping while she was hidden in his car. When the police left, he thought he would have to kill her to avoid going to prison, so he strangled her with a knotted cloth.
Ramon Salcido
Salcido has been convicted of murdering his wife, 2 daughters, 3 other relatives, and his supervisor at Sonoma County winery in 1989. After the killings, he fled to his hometown of Los Mochis, Mexico, where authorities apprehended him 5 days later. He returned to California and was sentenced to death.
Scott Peterson
Perhaps this case is the most recent, highly publicized case. Peterson murdered his 8-months pregnant wife Laci and their unborn son, Connor. Laci Peterson was last seen on Christmas Eve 2002, and Scott Peterson was sentenced to death in November 2004.
Dealing with a potential death penalty case?
If you or someone you know has been charged with a crime that could result in a capital punishment conviction, it’s imperative that you contact Dan Chambers of the Chambers Law Firm today. He has successfully worked on many high-profile cases, including death penalty cases, and he will devise the best strategy to avoid the imposition of a death sentence in your case.
Call 714-760-4088, email dchambers@clfca.com, or use the chat box below to schedule your free case evaluation today.
