Confessed Killer of Mother and Child Is Sentenced to Die
A San Diego man who confessed to beating to death a young mother and her 2-year-old daughter with a wrench has been sentenced to death.
Richard Samoyoa, 35, was sentenced Tuesday by San Diego Superior Court Judge Douglas Woodworth, who followed the jury’s recommendation that Samoyoa be put to death. Samoyoa was convicted April 21 on two first-degree murder charges stemming from the Dec. 18, 1985, deaths of his two neighbors, Nelia Silva, 33, and her daughter Katherine.
Samoyoa’s attorney, Michael Popkins, asked the judge to impose a life sentence without the possibility of parole, but Woodworth refused to do that.
“The death penalty is the only proper punishment for the murders committed by the defendant,” Woodworth said, adding that the gas chamber is the “only fitting response” for the crimes.
During the trial’s penalty phase, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeff Dusek presented evidence showing that Samoyoa was convicted in 1976 of raping a woman confined to a wheelchair and of hitting another woman over the head with a vase in her home.
The Silva murders occurred while Samoyoa was stealing jewelry from their home, according to testimony at the trial.
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