California: "Hollywood Ripper" sentenced to death in Los Angeles

Enlarge image

Convicted Michael Gargiulo at the sentencing

Photo: Damian Dovarganes / AP

A defendant known as the "Hollywood Ripper" has been sentenced to death in Los Angeles for the murder of two women.

The 45-year-old Michael Gargiulo brought "death and annihilation" with him in all his ways, the judge said on Friday when the verdict was pronounced.

The trial had received a lot of attention, among other things, because actor Ashton Kutcher appeared as a witness.

One of the murder victims was killed shortly before a date with Kutcher.

Gargiulo is held responsible, among other things, for the murder of a 22-year-old in February 2001.

The young woman was killed with 47 knife wounds in her Hollywood apartment.

She was killed shortly before a planned rendezvous with Hollywood star Kutcher.

The second murder victim was a 32-year-old mother of four who lived in Gargiulo's neighborhood.

She was attacked in her sleep in her home in December 2005 and then murdered.

An execution is unlikely

Gargiulo had already been found guilty in the two murder cases by a jury in October 2019.

The announcement of his sentence was then severely delayed by procedural matters and the corona pandemic.

Shortly before the death penalty was announced, Gargiulo reaffirmed his innocence in court on Friday.

It is unlikely that Gargiulo will actually be executed.

In the US state of California, the execution of the death penalty has been officially suspended since 2019.

The last time a prisoner was executed was in California in 2006.

Gargiulo was arrested in 2008 after attacking another woman who survived the attack.

She testified against him at the trial.

lmd / AFP