‘Recollections aren’t always accurate’

The jury began deliberation just before 4 p.m. Tuesday in the third death penalty trial for a man charged with the murder and kidnapping of a 12-year-old Huntington Beach girl.

Rodney James Alcala is being tried for the murder of Robin Samsoe and four Los Angeles women in the 1970s. He is charged with a series of murder and kidnapping charges and a number of enhancements for rape and torture. The 66-year-old was twice sentenced to death for Robin’s murder, but the convictions were overturned on appeal.

Sitting in a wooden chair in jeans, an aubergine and white checked button-up shirt and a khaki blazer with his long, wavy gray hair framing his face, Alcala finished his closing arguments Tuesday morning.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Matt Murphy detailed the evidence against Alcala with pictures of his alleged victims and graphic photographs of their bodies from the crime scene, but it was Robin that Alcala focused on during his closing arguments — completely ignoring the Los Angeles cases.

Robin was last seen June 20, 1979, on her way to ballet class. Right before her disappearance, Robin and a friend were approached and photographed by a strange man, whom witnesses later identified as Alcala, prosecutors argued.

“This is the case he wants to fight. This is the case he wants a break on,” Murphy said. “He wants to get away with this murder. He’s living to get away with this murder.”

Alcala argued that witness statements contradicted one another and attributed characteristics to the man who photographed the two on the beach that don’t fit him.

“The point I want to make is people’s recollections aren’t always accurate,” Alcala said.