Free Republic

San Quentin death-row inmate Justin Helzer, convicted in 2004 of murdering five people, including the daughter of blues guitarist Elvin Bishop, tried to kill himself and is hospitalized in critical condition, sources confirmed Friday. The sources said Helzer apparently tried to kill himself by jamming pens in each of his eyes. Although he didn't kill himself, the sources said Helzer did succeed in paralyzing himself on the right side and causing a level of brain damage that has yet to be determined.

MARTINEZ, Calif. (AP) - Two brothers were sentenced to death Friday for killing the daughter of blues guitarist Elvin Bishop and four other people during a grisly extortion and murder spree during the summer of 2000. Judge Mary Ann O'Malley sentenced Glenn Taylor Helzer, 34, and Justin Helzer, 33, in separate hearings, following the recommendations of the two juries that had earlier voted for the death penalty for both brothers. The Helzer brothers and their roommate, Dawn Godman, killed five people, including 22-year-old Selina Bishop, during a plot to extort $100,000. Glenn Helzer, a former stockbroker, wanted to use the...

Glenn Taylor Helzer said the word 18 times Friday as he admitted to plotting a conspiracy that crossed three counties and cost five lives. In a courtroom bombshell, Helzer pleaded guilty to killing five people, including his girlfriend and a retired Concord couple whose bodies were found dismembered in duffel bags in the Delta in August 2000. The announcement, through his attorney, that he wanted to plead guilty to 18 felony charges stunned everyone in the courtroom and left the judge speechless. There is no deal with prosecutors; the 33-year-old still faces the death penalty. "He understands that this does...