Jury Recommends Death for Killer of 5 Women

A jury deliberated just over an hour Thursday before recommending the death penalty for the so-called “Bedroom Basher,” whose spree of sexual assaults and murders sent an innocent man to prison for 16 years.

The jury convicted Gerald Parker, 43, of breaking into the homes of five Orange County women, and then using wooden boards or hammers to attack them as they slept. The victims were all between 17 and 31, and the killings terrorized Orange County in the late 1970s. A sixth woman, Dianna Green, 21, survived Parker’s attack, but she was nine months pregnant and her unborn girl died.

Green’s then-husband, Kevin Green, was convicted of murdering the fetus and spent 16 years in prison before being freed in 1996, when newly available DNA testing technology led authorities to Parker, a former Marine sergeant.

Kevin Green, who now lives in Missouri, appeared in court for part of the testimony against Parker, and said he believes the defendant deserves the death penalty.

Parker’s defense attorneys had argued that their client, an admitted alcoholic and drug user, was not in control of himself when he committed the crimes. But prosecutors asked jurors to show no mercy to Parker, arguing that he showed none to his victims.