Jury Recommends Death For Yosemite Killer
A California jury has made its recommendation – Cary Stayner should be executed for killing three Yosemite National Park tourists.
A judge now has the option of sentencing Stayner to life in prison.
The former motel handyman is already serving a life term for murdering a nature guide at the park.
The same jury that convicted him of the three murders rejected defense pleas to spare Stayner’s life. His lawyers argued that he suffered mental illness and a traumatic childhood. Prosecutors claimed he was cunning, methodical and went to great lengths to cover his tracks.
The 1999 killings terrorized the communities along the rugged Sierra Nevada near Sonora.
The three victims were a woman, her daughter and a friend from Argentina. They were staying at the lodge where Stayner worked as a handyman.
