LOS ANGELES (CN) - A state court jury decided Monday that "Grim Sleeper" serial killer Lonnie Franklin Jr. should be put to death for murdering nine women and a 15-year-old girl.
The death penalty recommendation comes a month after jurors found the 63-year-old former trash collector and LAPD garage attendant guilty of the first-degree murders of nine women and 15-year-old Princess Berthomieux.
He was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Enietra Washington, who he shot, sexually assaulted and pushed out of a Ford Pinto in 1988.
Franklin, who was wearing a thick yellow shirt and black tie, stared ahead, unflinching, as the court clerk confirmed that the jury had returned a penalty of death on each count.
He will appear in court for sentencing on Aug. 10. At the conclusion of the hearing, he sat stiffly as a deputy placed his arms behind his back and placed him in handcuffs. Deputies then marched him out of a side door in the courtroom.
As the court clerk read out the jury's verdict on each count of first-degree murder, Darin Alexander, 51, the brother of Franklin's 18-year-old victim Alicia Alexander leaned over to his crying mother Mary and embraced her.
"We finally got it. We finally got it, "Alexander said.
Prosecutor Beth Silverman told reporters outside at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center that reaching this point in the case was emotional and there is a "sense of relief" for the families.
"We've been telling them this for years, that no matter what the end result is of this case, we can never give them back what they lost. And this is sort of a poor substitute for that," Silverman said with prosecutor Marguerite Rizzo and family members standing next to her.
During the trial, Silverman played the dual role of coach and prosecutor to a tee, huddling among the families and preparing them for grueling testimony and arguments that often played out with gruesome autopsy and crime scene images of the victims projected on a side wall.
After the verdict on Monday, she went around to each family member one by one, sharing hugs, tears, and words of comfort.
"We've been in their lives in a very intimate way over the course of the last six years and that's not something for us that ends," Silverman said. "Our connection with them goes on but their need for us maybe starts to wane and they start getting back to their lives. It's a difficult time."
During the penalty phase of the case in Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy's courtroom, prosecutors have presented evidence of the murders of 43-year-old Georgia Mae Thomas, 21-year-old Sharon Dismuke and Inez Warren, 28.
Franklin, however, was not charged in the cases presented during the penalty phase.
The jury deliberated for eight hours over one and a half days before delivering the verdict. Kennedy will now decide whether or not to adopt the jury's recommendation.
Kennedy asked him if he wanted to waive his right to be sentenced within 20 days of the verdict.
"Yes, your honor," Franklin replied.