Jailhouse videos belie Joseph James DeAngelo Jr.'s appearances in court as a feeble, frail old man, prosecutors say.
In his court appearances, the man known as the Golden State Killer sits with a slack face, hunched in his wheelchair, thin and pale.
“The defendant has come to court, oftentimes with his mouth agape, his head cocked to the side, his hands twisted and held in an awkward angle,” Sacramento County Deputy Dist. Atty. Thienvu Ho told a judge Monday.“The blank stare, the halting answers that sometimes burst forth in gasps of breath, might lead some to suspect or later contend that he is physically or mentally deficient,” Ho said.
Monday’s hearing marked the start of an extraordinary week in the criminal case, when dozens of the Golden State Killer’s victims or their relatives are expected to confront DeAngelo in court and deliver victim impact statements.DeAngelo, a former police officer, terrorized California for more than a decade. His crimes ran from at least 1973 to 1986 and involved attacks on some 106 children, men and women in 11 counties, ranging from Sacramento to Orange.
In June, during an eight-hour proceeding held at a university ballroom to accommodate both COVID-19 safety measures and a throng of victims and their family members, sheriff’s deputies rolled DeAngelo onto the elevated platform in a wheelchair. His defense lawyers said DeAngelo requires a cane but could walk — the wheelchair was used at the request of court security officers who sought a quick way to remove DeAngelo from the room if needed.
“I would love to know who he really is,” said Kris Pedretti, who was 15 in 1976 when she was repeatedly raped by DeAngelo. “Like, I know it’s an act.”Victims already have heard their own stories of a dual DeAngelo. A jail official, for instance, told Pedretti of watching DeAngelo joking one day with his guards, until three people from the district attorney’s office walked into the room.
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