LOS ANGELES (AP) – Porter Alexander spent more than 20 years wondering if his daughter’s killer would ever be caught. He’s spent the last four years hoping he’ll live to see the man brought to justice.
Alexander, 74, planned to urge a judge Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court to set a trial date for Lonnie Franklin Jr., who is charged with 10 counts of murder in what have been dubbed the “Grim Sleeper” serial killings that spanned two decades.
Prosecutors are citing Marsy’s Law, a voter-approved victims’ bill of rights that extends the right to a speedy trial – guaranteed for defendants – to family members of victims. It also allows victims to address the court, and Alexander planned to vent his frustration with the system that has allowed the case to languish in court.
“Oh, man, I can’t count how many times I’ve been there,” he said Thursday. “We’re walking into the fifth year.”
Franklin, 62, has pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of murder and one count of attempted murder and could face the death penalty if convicted of the shootings and strangulations that occurred from 1985 to 2007, the brunt of them during a period when crack cocaine plagued parts of Los Angeles. The nickname was coined because of the gap between slayings in 1988 and 2002.