Joseph James DeAngelo, sitting in a wheelchair, is brought out of the courtroom for a break in the schedule for the third day of victim impact statements at the Gordon D. Schaber Sacramento County Courthouse on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020, in Sacramento, Calif. DeAngelo, 74, a former police officer in California eluded capture for four decades before being identified as the Golden State Killer. DeAngelo pleaded guilty in June to 13 murders and 13 rape-related charges stemming from crimes in the 1970s and 1980s. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP, Pool)
By Don Thompson
A former California police officer dubbed the Golden State Killer told victims Friday hew was "truly sorry" before he was sentenced to multiple life prison sentences for a decade-long string of rapes and murders that terrorized a wide swath of the state.
Joseph James DeAngelo, 74, pleaded guilty in June to 13 murders and 13 rape-related charges under a plea deal that avoided a possible death sentence.
The punishment imposed by Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman means DeAngelo will die in prison for the crimes committed between 1975 and 1986.
Before sentencing, DeAngelo rose from a wheelchair, took off his mask, and said to the court: "I listened to all your statements, each one of them, and I'm truly sorry for everyone I've hurt."
DeAngelo also publicly admitted dozens of more sexual assaults for which the statute of limitations had expired. Prosecutors called the scale of the violence "simply staggering," encompassing 87 victims at 53 crime scenes spanning 11 California counties.
So many were his victims that Bowman sentenced DeAngelo in a university ballroom large enough to hold the survivors and their families, after an extraordinary three days of hearings in which they told in often heart-rending detail how he had upended their lives.
DeAngelo sat silently through those hearings, expressionless in a wheelchair that prosecutors contended is a prop to hide his still vigorous health.
He eluded capture for four decades until investigators used a new form of DNA tracking to unmask and arrest him in 2018.
Prosecutors initially sought the death penalty but settled for a life term given California's moratorium on executions, the coronavirus pandemic, and the advancing age of DeAngelo, his victims, and witnesses they needed to make their case.
Bowman sentenced DeAngelo under a plea deal that called for him to be sentenced to 11 consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole, plus 15 life terms with the possibility of parole and eight years for other enhancements.
A record number of children got homeschooled during the pandemic, jumping over 60 percent in the 2020-2021 schoolyear compared to pre-pandemic numbers. Andrew Bacher-Hicks, Assistant Professor of Education Policy at Boston University joins Cheddar News to explain why many parents are sticking to home education even after schools reopened their doors.
Frankie Grande of Nickelodeon’s "Danger Force" is taking his villain act to another show on the network, "Side Hustle," for a crossover event dubbed "When Worlds Collide." The actor, dancer, singer, producer, television host, and YouTube personality joined Cheddar News to talk about putting the project together. “What I will tell you is these unbelievable actors from very, very young ages were so inspirational to work with," he said of his castmates. "They showed up, they knew their lines, they hit their marks." Grande also went into detail about his very nerdy engagement with Hale Leon in virtual reality.
Inflation is driving a return to the gig economy, according to a new survey from Branch & Marqeta that found 85 percent of workers have increased or planned to increase their amount of gig work in the past six months, with 58 percent citing inflation as the reason behind this change. Arun Sundararajan, professor at NYU Stern School of Business, breaks down this dynamic and how it's impacting the broader economy. "Inflation is rampant and people need more money. Salaried wages haven't kept up. Plus the labor market is tight. People can't find full time employees, employers can't find full time employees, and so some people are being opportunistic," he said. "And I also think there's a COVID effect because people have gotten used to more flexibility and time and space because people have gotten used to more flexibility and time and space, through the months of the lockdown."
The FDA just approved a first-of-its-kind treatment for individuals with blood cancer that has proven results of 5-year survival rates. Christi Shaw, CEO of Kite, a Gilead company, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss how this treatment works and compares to others currently on the market.
Dr. Neta Lavon, CTO and VP of R&D at Aleph Farms, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss how the team sent cow cells to space to further research the production of meat in space, and why developing cultivated meat is so critical to the future of space travel.
