Prosecutor Asks for Death Penalty as Night Stalker Trial Opens

Richard Ramirez, accused of slashing throats and gouging out the eyes of some victims during burglaries, should receive the death penalty for 13 premeditated murders, the lead prosecutor said Monday as he outlined the case against the Night Stalker suspect.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Philip Halpin gave a low-key opening statement, methodically detailing the 13 slayings, some of which had overtones of devil worship.

Ramirez, 28, a shaggy-haired drifter from El Paso, sat slumped in his chair, dressed in a dark-gray pin-striped suit and black sunglasses. For security, his ankles were shackled, but the chains were not visible to the jury.

“We have alleged these murders are in the first degree, were premeditated and occurred during burglaries and other crimes,” Halpin said. “We are asking for the death penalty in this case.”

The lead prosecutor had asked for extra security such as leg shackles and a metal detector after the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Ramirez had threatened to smuggle a gun into court, shoot the prosecutor and then open fire on spectators.

Halpin pointed to an enlarged map of Los Angeles County that was marked with the crime spots and a chart that listed the killings and sexual assaults.

He began by describing the first Night Stalker slaying, the June 28, 1984, murder of Jennie Vincow, whose throat was slit, and discussed the March, 1985, double murder of a Whittier couple, Vincent and Maxine Zazzara. The man was shot in the head and the woman’s throat was slit.

“Additionally, Mrs. Zazzara’s eyes had been gouged from her head,” Halpin said.

He added that the prosecution will prove its case through fingerprints lifted from crime scenes, ballistics tests and eyewitness testimony.

The killing spree reached its peak in the hot summer of 1985, as the nocturnal killer entered homes through unlocked windows and doors and killed both men and women with gunshots to the head or knives to the throat, sexually assaulted female victims and burglarized the residences.

The killer was dubbed the Night Stalker by the press.

Satanic symbols, such as inverted pentagrams, or five-pointed stars associated with devil worship, often were left scrawled at the scene.

Ramirez fueled speculation that he was a devil worshiper when he yelled “Hail, Satan!” at his arraignment and held up his palm, on which he had drawn a pentagram.