Jury Recommends Death Penalty For 'Hollywood Ripper' Michael Gargiulo
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - Jurors recommended a death sentence Friday for Michael Gargiulo, the so-called Hollywood Ripper who killed and mutilated two women and attacked a third.
Gargiulo, an air conditioning repairman, was found guilty on Aug. 15 of two counts of first-degree murder for the 2001 and 2005 killings.
He was also convicted of attempted murder for a 2008 stabbing of a Santa Monica woman who was able to escape and survived.
His conviction followed a trial which dragged out for 3 ½ months, including four days of deliberations.
It took jurors less than five hours to decide in favor of recommending death over a life prison sentence.
The sentencing comes as Gargiulo awaits a separate trial in Illinois in the killing of 18-year-old Tricia Pacaccio, who was repeatedly stabbed on her front doorstep after returning home in Glenview, Illinois, from a night out with friends Aug. 14, 1993.
