Golden State Killer Is Sentenced

Joseph DeAngelo says he is 'truly sorry'
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 21, 2020 12:47 PM CDT
Golden State Killer: 'I'm Truly Sorry'
Joseph James DeAngelo, sitting in a wheelchair, is brought out of the courtroom on Thursday.   (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP, Pool)

Joseph DeAngelo, better known as the Golden State Killer, won't be getting out of prison. The 74-year-old received a sentence of life without the possibility of parole on Friday for his decades-long string of murders and sexual attacks, reports NBC News. DeAngelo, a former police officer in California, told victims he was "truly sorry" in court, per the AP. To avoid the death penalty, he had pleaded guilty to 13 murders and 13 rape-related charges for crimes between 1975 and 1986. In all, he admitted to having 87 victims in more than 50 crimes in 11 of the state's counties.

"I've listened to all your statements. Each one of them," DeAngelo told the court. "And I'm truly sorry to everyone I have hurt. Thank you, your honor." DeAngelo's case is the subject of an HBO documentary, I'll Be Gone in the Dark, which is based on an investigative book by the late Michelle McNamara. She was the wife of comedian Patton Oswalt, and she died two years before the arrest of DeAngelo in 2016. (More Golden State Killer stories.)

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