The Slaying of Shirley Lynette Ledford Most of us know the potential dangers of hitchhiking, but that's because we've grown up being warned by our parents not to do so. medianet_height = "250"; 3 and 4 15-Year Old Jackie Gilliam and 13-Year-Old Leah Lamp. 866, 647 P.2d 142] (see People v. Valenzuela (1984) 151 Cal. He had served just one sixth of a possible maximum sentence. As they drove along the road in Redondo Beach, Bittaker spotted Cindy and remarked, Theres a cute little blonde.. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Bittaker and Norris offered Lynette a ride home in their van; she accepted because she recognized Bittaker as a regular customer at the restaurant she worked at part time. Eventually, the skeletal remains of Leah Lamp and Jackie Gilliam were discovered, what was left of them. She had been hitchhiking home from her job. 3d 1, 71-75 [168 Cal. They worked on the van for most of the morning, fitting a bed into the back, with enough space underneath it to conceal a body. Defendant, however, is barred from raising this objection on appeal because he failed to object to the playing of the tape in the trial court. The San Fernando Valley is a familiar sight for moviegoers. Norris was sent to the Atascadero State Hospital, a psychiatric institution, where, after examination, he was diagnosed as a mentally disordered sex offender. There is a problem with your email/password. When the Murder Mack was searched, they found the tools and the implements they used in their tortures, they found the audio tapes that they recorded while taking the life of their five victims. Considered to be a soft prison, its more relaxed and not tough. Shirley Sanders [9/30/1979] survived (no picture) Shirley Lynette Ledford, 16 [10/31/1979 Sunland, CA] These are two of the worst that there has ever been. Teenage girls go missing all the time, and there was nothing to suggest that they had been murdered. They then drove to a remote area, and started to torture her, Bittaker immediately turned on the tape recorder and started slapping and beating Shirley. Her body was found the next morning. He excused those jurors who raised their hand. When actor Scott Glenn was preparing for the role of Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs, he listened to the tape. After almost two days of terror and pain for the girls, the men decided it was time to kill them. Bittaker pulled into the parking lot of a tennis court so he could help Norris. The linings of her rectum and vagina showed tears from the insertion of the pliers, and her elbows showed destruction from the pounding they took from the sledge hammer. FN 4. fn. (Ibid.) medianet_width = "728"; 15, and Jacqueline Leah Lamp, 13, on Sept. 2, 1979; and 16-year-old Shirley Lynette Ledford on Oct. 31, 1979. . We do not believe they can be altered by contract so as to limit the court to reviewing the district attorney's discretionary finding as to whether Norris told the truth. Three months after he was released, Norris was in Redondo Beach, cruising around on a motorbike. Norris then made another mistake. (h).) He spends his time writing appeals and filing frivolous lawsuits, including one where he claimed to have been subjected to cruel and unusual punishment by the prison system. Forest Lawn Memorial Park. This language suggests that the jurors do not have the ultimate burden of determining whether defendant should live or die. Norris would later claim that for most of the time, he was high on drugs and therefore unable to disobey Bittaker. Expressing his frustration at being unable to question the juror, counsel challenged for cause, but the court denied the challenge. GREAT NEWS! Norris took over the driving while Bittaker went into the back with the naked and terrified girl. medianet_versionId = "3111299"; The two then switched places, with Norris turning on the tape recorder and then himself ordering Lynette to scream, while hitting her with a sledgehammer. You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below. But there can be a long time between a sentence of death and the carrying out of the sentence. We reviewed a study by Dr. Craig Haney which indicated that jurors who had been through a death-qualifying process were more likely to believe the defendant guilty and to favor the death penalty, and noted his conclusion that "'[t]he more extensive the questioning, the more you would expect to find important differences between the state of mind of jurors who have been through the one process [death-qualification] as compared with those who have been though the other [voir dire without death qualification].'" Defendant contends that the search of Shoopman's cell and seizure of evidence was illegal because the affidavit supporting the warrant contained a reference to the contents of the Ledford tape. Bittaker, on the other hand, seemed to be amused by the whole proceedings. In addition to the death sentence, he was also sentenced to 199 years to life, a precaution in case in the future, someone commutes the death sentence. This account has been disabled. He told Norris he had taken more pictures. His attorney filed another appeal. 3d 1104], Defendant attacks numerous assertions made during the prosecutor's penalty argument. During voir dire, Kuriki stated that she did not think that she could be fair, because she would get emotionally involved. FN 26. While awaiting trial, Bittaker wrote his autobiography, despite repeated warnings from his lawyer. App. You may not upload any more photos to this memorial, This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has 20 photos, This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded 5 photos to this memorial, This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has 30 photos, This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded 15 photos to this memorial. A second examination later found that he also had poor control over impulsive behavior. Defendant kidnapped and murdered five teenage girls, raped four of them, and tortured at least one. ), FN 12. In addition, they had come across a gated fire road and smashed the padlock to gain access. When he returned, Bittaker was alone, and grinning to himself over some Polaroid photographs he had in his hand. Certain portions were read by the prosecutor, and acknowledged by defendant, on cross-examination. 31 But since any prejudice from the prosecutor's comment could have been cured by a timely objection and admonition, defense counsel's failure to object thus bars consideration of this issue. The van pulled ahead and stopped, and Norris got out. Shirley Ledford was 16 years young when she was abducted, assaulted, tortured and murdered on Halloween Night of 1979 by the "Toolbox Killers". The bodies of Schaefer and Hall were never found. Victim No. They deserve to die like Shirley, Jackie, Jacqueline, and many others. (P. The court sustained the prosecutor's objection. Then, towards the middle the sounds are of Bittaker beating her about the chest with his fists and tormenting the screaming and pleading girl with vise grip pliers on her genitals, breasts and nipples. Cindy convulsed for a few more moments before her body went limp and she stopped moving. When directly questioned on her ability to reach a decision strictly based on the evidence presented in court, she indicated her belief that she could do so. Ledford was tortured and murdered by two men named Roy Norris and Lawrence Bittaker, known as "The Toolbox Killers ." Instead, they could commit whatever acts they wanted while driving through the streets of Los Angeles. The ruling of the court in thus limiting the appellant in his examination of the jurors was, in our opinion, the deprival of the appellant of a fundamental right, -- a right to be tried by an impartial jury. medianet_crid = "168111523"; They removed Cindy from the van and tossed her into the canyon, confident that it was unlikely to be discovered, and that the wildlife in the area would take care of any evidence anyway. With this information, Bynum went to see Steve Kay, the Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney. Within a short space of time, he had been arrested for hit and run, auto theft, and evading arrest. Norris wrestled her to the floor, stripped the clothes of the her. Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. Once again, not taking no for an answer, one of the men sprayed her with pepper spray and dragged her into the Murder Mack. Ice picks are also used on the girl, and all the while, Bittaker is demanding that she screams louder and harder. They were a perfect match for each other, but it was not one made in Heaven. The evidence was admissible. Found more than one record for entered Email, You need to confirm this account before you can sign in. Shirley slowly went through each photograph one by one and finally, from all the photographs, she picked out two. Shoopman denied receiving such a letter, and the prosecutor did not mention the matter further. medianet_height = "90"; Bittaker and Norris also murdered Lucinda Schaefer, 16, of Torrance, on June 24 of that year; Andrea Joy Hall, 18, of Tujunga, on July 8, 1979; and Shirley Lynette Ledford, 16, of Sun Valley, on . Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. What was the cruel and unusual punishment? Twenty five times the sledge hammer falls as Lynette screams in pain. Paroled once more, he went back to prison in October, 1964. Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris had bonded over a love of sadism and fantasies of rape and torture. 1 Defendant then attempted to strangle Schaefer, but was unable to squeeze tightly enough. Glenn met up with top FBI profiler John Douglas. Norris would have to do much better if he was to avoid execution. The photographs were of Andrea, her face stricken with terror. All the while he took snaps of her expression as she realized that she was doomed. Il procuratore Stephen Kay . Maybe it was this rootless lifestyle, this instability, which made Lawrence rebellious. Norris suggested that they kill Gilliam quickly because she had been so helpful, but defendant replied that "they only die once, anyway." He ended up serving time with the California Youth Authority, where he stayed until he was 19. (e) The method of weighing factors and determining penalty. Both bodies were then tossed over a cliff like garbage, the ice pick still embedded in Jackies skull. Los Angeles County, California, USA. Shirley had decided to hitchhike home after a Halloween party and was fatefully picked up by Bittaker and Norris. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. In 1987, Paul Bynum, who had been the chief investigator of the Bittaker-Norris murders, committed suicide at age 39. Criminologist Laura Brand later interviewed Bittaker while he was in prison, describing to The Independent the chills she felt when he spoke so casually of his crimes. From the toolbox, he took a pair of vice grip pliers and began to pinch and tear at her body with them, targeting her nipples and vagina. 27, Defendant raises 40 guilt phase issues. The killings began in June 1979, with the death of Lucinda Lynn Schaefer, 16. The audio tape Bittaker and Norris created of themselves raping and torturing Shirley Lynette Ledford remains in the possession of the FBI Academy. With a second deviation from their normal practice, the men decided not to drive up to the fire road. Norris climbed into the van and drove off, leaving Bittaker and Andrea alone on the fire road. Ms. R. also selected defendant's photograph out of a photographic lineup of potential suspects. He hit her in the left elbow with the sledgehammer over 25 times in total, while Lynette screamed and cried. This browser does not support getting your location. 83, 759 P.2d 1260]. But by leaving Lynette in full view, they had alerted the authorities that there was a killer on the loose. When the van pulled over and offered them a lift, they accepted. fn. 3d 1222, 1276-1277 [232 Cal. She was followed by Andrea Joy Hall, 18; Jacqueline Doris Gilliam, 15; Jacqueline Leah Lamp, 13, and Shirley Lynette Ledford, 16. 2d 755 [290 P.2d 855]; Kaplin v. Superior Court (1971) 6 Cal. For both men, they have, effectively, got life sentences for the murder of five girls. Douglas showed him some of the things they had to work with. Somewhere along the route, Norris joins in, and both men continue Lynettes night of torture. It looked to her that there was only one man in the van, so she said yes and got in. Unable to resist, she was dragged behind a hedge where Norris raped her. Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. It was set for December 29, 1989. Markman did not agree with the opinions of the other experts who had examined Bittaker. Other than Daltons word, there was no evidence that he was telling the truth. As the days and weeks passed, and no one had come looking for them, the men began to relax, and confident that they were not being sought by the police, they began to cruise the streets once more. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. LAWRENCE SIGMOND BITTAKER, Defendant and Appellant, (Opinion by Broussard, J., expressing the unanimous view of the court.). There was evidence that all of the victims except Schaefer voluntarily entered defendant's van. For a while, Norriss confidence held, but soon, it began to erode and finally, Norris folded and began to confess to the murders, though he shifted all the blame to Bittaker. Ten days had passed since the arrest of the second Hillside Strangler, could there have been a third that no one knew about? Il documentario del 2012 The Devil and the Death Penalty parla degli omicidi descrivendo i problemi riguardanti gli appelli nelle condanne a morte. [31] Christina Dralle testified that when she rejected defendant's advances, he pulled a gun and said, "you wouldn't argue if I pulled the trigger." Two weeks later, on Sunday, July 8, the two men went out hunting again. But it wasnt enough for the Toolbox Killers to commit the heinous acts. In addition, her wrists and ankles showed ligature marks, a sign that she had been restrained. The sliding door was closed and the van sped off. Oops, something didn't work. 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