Worst Mass Killer in OC History Sentenced to Life in Prison for Shooting, Killing 8 in...

NBC Los Angeles ^ | 9./22

[nickcarraway]

Worst Mass Killer in OC History Sentenced to Life in Prison for Shooting, Killing 8 in Seal Beach Beauty Salon

The gunman's ex-wife was the first victim of the shooting; the couple had been locked in a bitter child custody dispute

Scott Dekraai, the worst mass killer in Orange County's history, was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for gunning down eight people at a Southern California beauty salon where his ex-wife worked.

"We are hopeful that all who have been violated by the defendant’s cruel and despicable crimes may find healing and peace, and also may find some measure of relief in the knowledge that the man who callously cut short the lives of their loved ones will inevitably die in prison," the Orange County District Attorney said in a statement Friday.

The case has rocked the criminal system in Orange County amid allegations that Dekraai, 47, was the victim of abuse of the jailhouse informant program, but Friday morning's sentencing could turn out to be the last word on the case.

The widower of one of Dekraai's eight murder victims said the California attorney general's office told him there would be no appeal of a ruling eliminating the death penalty as a punishment for the defendant.

"They're not going to appeal -- they called me," said Paul Wilson, husband of Christy Wilson, who was among the first to be gunned down in the Salon Meritage massacre in Seal Beach nearly six years ago.

"This should be it," Wilson said. "I feel that it's finally some closure, a little bit of closure. ... I can walk out of there knowing I won't have to come back to see this guy. He will go away and I won't have to see his face in the newspaper. He's just going to go off into loneliness and be gone and I'll try really hard to put it all behind me, knowing I don't have to relive it in court. It's a relief."

Dekraai's ex-wife, 48-year-old Michelle Marie Fournier, was the first victim the then-42-year-old gunman killed on Oct. 12, 2011, at the Salon Meritage at 500 Pacific Coast Highway, where she worked. The couple had been locked in a bitter child custody dispute.

Also killed in the salon were Wilson, 47; the shop's owner, 62-year-old Randy Lee Fannin; Laura Webb Elody, 46; Victoria Ann Buzzo, 54; Lucia Berniece Kondas, 65, and Michele Dashbach Fast, 47. After leaving the salon, Dekraai gunned down his last victim, 64-year-old David Caouette, as the victim sat in his Range Rover, parked next to the gunman's vehicle. Hattie Stretz, now 79, survived the bloodbath.

Dekraai pleaded guilty May 2, 2014, knowing at the time he faced a possible death sentence. His plea came amid evidentiary hearings into allegations that his constitutional rights were violated by a jailhouse informant who heard him make damning comments about the murder spree.

At issue was whether the comments were "overheard" by the informant or if he worked Dekraai to get the information, which led to prosecutors having the defendant's cell wired in hopes of obtaining more damaging comments to be used in the penalty phase of trial. Informants are not allowed to question defendants who are represented by an attorney, as Dekraai was at the time.

They are free, however, to pass along overheard comments to their handlers.

Dekraai's attorneys, led by Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders, unearthed a trove of cases involving jailhouse informants whom they claimed were being used in ways that violated the constitutional rights of many inmates.

The allegations led Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals to boot District Attorney Tony Rackauckas' office off the case. The state attorney general's office then took it over.

The Fourth District Court of Appeal upheld Goethals' ruling, concluding there was institutionalized corruption in the way jailhouse snitches were used and that Dekraai could never be certain he would receive a fair hearing with Rackauckas' office prosecuting him.

After numerous ensuing problems and delays in turning over evidence to defense attorneys, Goethals ordered another round of evidentiary hearings and then dropped his bombshell ruling eliminating the death penalty as an option for Dekraai.

Before the hearings, Goethals called such a move "unthinkable," but in the end, he felt Dekraai could never get a fair trial in the penalty phase, despite a new team of prosecutors, and laid the blame at the feet of Dekraai's jailers.

The fallout from the Dekraai litigation also helped get one killer out of custody and another one off the hook on a life sentence. Two other convicted killers won new trials. Sanders, the assistant public defender, estimates 16 defendants have either won new trials or received reduced punishments as a result.

Michelle Van Der Linden, a spokeswoman for Rackauckas, said only four cases were affected.

[Gay State Conservative]

Kills eight? Life? Something doesn't compute here.Lemme guess...the shrink said he had an unhappy childhood!

[donozark]

Perhaps he was lactose intolerant?

[Steely Tom]

Forget it Jake, it’s California.

[ColdOne]

They said they would not appeal thus he got life.

[nickcarraway]

I think California has more people on death row than any other state.

[Steely Tom]

I think California has more people on death row than any other state.

Yeah, it's The Death Row Lifestyle, in Sunny California!

[DoughtyOne]

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[shanover]

In many parts of what was once America,life is worthless and the evil is protected.

[ColdOne]

True!

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[Seruzawa]

Wish his lawyers were joining him.

[Oatka]

I think California has more people on death row than any other state.

And they will live there longer than many of their victims had ever lived.

[ridesthemiles]

The Death Penalty in California hasn’t been applied in over 30 years.

There are over 750 inmates on ‘Death Row’ in Calif living better than many here on FR, just not allowed to roam around the countryside.