Most (or at least many) people took a well-deserved break last week. Including myself. (Thank you, Park City.)
But now it's Monday. Start of a new week. Time to get back to business.
(At least theoretically.)
It's not really surprising how this one comes out. Chester Turner is convicted of killing not one person, not two people, not three people, but ten people. Plus a viable fetus.
Over a dozen or so years, sure. But still: Double digits. You're going to get sentenced to death for that. And don't be surprised when your convictions and sentence are unanimously affirmed by the California Supreme Court.
The "Figueroa Corridor" of Los Angeles -- where each of the murders took place -- has changed a ton between the period in which the murders took place (between 1987 and 1996) and today. As I can personally attest, that area has gotten a ton more upscale since that time. But during the relevant period, it was definitely "an area beset by crime, including prostitution and narcotics activity." A place in which a serial killer could indeed prey on vulnerable prostitutes, homeless women and drug addicts.
There's still Skid Row in Los Angeles, where Mr. Turner lived at the time. Which continues to be a not-nice place.
In the meantime, Mr. Turner gets sentenced to death, so the California Supreme Court has to do its work. Even though it's pretty much a certainty that he'll die in prison of natural causes. (He's currently 54 years old.)
And on the Monday after Thanksgiving, that court rendered the precise judgment that everyone would expect.
