List of death row inmates in the United States
List of death row inmates by jurisdiction -- California
Table:
Name

Description of Crime

Time on Death Row

Notes

Rodney Alcala

Five murders committed between 1977 and 1979.

14 years, 164 days

Alcala's victim count is unknown. He has been convicted of 7 homicides. Some sources estimate the number to be as high as 130.[30][31]

Rosie Alfaro

Murder of nine-year-old Autumn Wallace

32 years, 58 days

Alfaro was the first woman sentenced to death by gas chamber and the first woman in Orange County, California to get the death penalty.

Richard Allen Davis

Murder of Polly Klaas

28 years, 36 days

Richard Delmer Boyer

Murdered an elderly couple in 1982.

39 years, 271 days

Luis Bracamontes

Shot and killed Sacramento County sheriff’s deputy Danny Oliver and Placer County detective Michael Davis Jr. in October 2014.

6 years, 138 days

Vincent Brothers

Murdered his wife, mother-in-law and three children.

16 years, 349 days

In 2003, Vincent Brothers drove from Columbus, Ohio to Bakersfield, California nonstop to murder his family. He then drove back to Columbus and then flew back to California to find his family murdered. He was on trial 2 years later and convicted on all counts.

Albert Greenwood Brown

Brown was convicted for the abduction, rape, and murder of 15-year-old Susan Louise Jordan on her way to school. Brown posed as a jogger and dragged her into the woods, and then strangled her with her shoelace. Brown then made numerous calls to the Riverside Police Department and the Jordan residence. One of Brown's subsequent calls was recorded by a police officer. "Hello, Mrs. Jordan, Susie isn't home from school yet, is she? You will never see your daughter again. You can find her body on the corner of Victoria and Gibson." Brown was arrested after witnesses identified his license plate number. In his residence, police found Susan's books, a newspaper article about the case, and a Riverside telephone book bookmarked to the page of the Jordan home. Brown was late to work on the day she disappeared, a bloody jogging suit was found in his locker and Brown's shoes were matched to footprints from the crime scene.

42 years, 192 days

Prior to his arrest for Jordan's murder, he was previously convicted of molesting an 11-year-old and a 14-year-old girl. The latter of which he was on parole for at the time of Jordan's murder.

David Carpenter

Carpenter was convicted of the murders of four women and one man in 1979-1980 on hiking trails near San Francisco, California. He is known as the Trailside Killer.

40 years, 66 days

Carpenter is suspected in the murders of at least two other women. In 2009, DNA evidence from another murder victim, Mary Frances Bennett, was identified as matching Carpenter's DNA.

Dean Carter

Carter was convicted of raping and strangling five women in April 1984.

34 years, 216 days

Steven David Catlin

Catlin was convicted of poisoning two of his wives and his adoptive mother.

34 years, 62 days

Doug Clark

Rape, murder, necrophilia, seven female victims, six convictions.

41 years, 170 days

Along with accomplice Carol M. Bundy known as the Sunset Strip Killers.

Cynthia Coffman

Convicted along with her boyfriend James Marlow of the murders of four women from October to November 1986

35 years, 10 days

Coffman admits to committing the murders, but insists she suffered from battered-woman syndrome.

Kevin Cooper

Cooper was convicted of axing and stabbing Douglas and Peggy Ryen, their daughter Jessica, and their son Joshua's friend Christopher Hughes. 8-year-old Joshua survived the attack.

39 years, 112 days

Tiequon Cox

Cox was convicted of shooting four relatives of former NFL player Kermit Alexander.

38 years, 126 days

Scott Erskine

In 1989, Erskine raped and drowned a woman. Four years later, he raped and strangled two young boys, 13-year-old Charlie Keever and 9-year-old Jonathan Sellers.

20 years, 3 days

Richard Farley

Shot and killed 7 people and wounded 4 others, including Laura Black, a former coworker Farley had been stalking for 4 years prior to his rampage.

32 years, 237 days

Wayne Adam Ford

Confessed to killing four women in 1997 and 1998 but is thought to have killed others.

18 years, 40 days

Ford was arrested after he walked into the Humboldt County Sheriff Department in Eureka, California in November 1998 with a woman's severed breast in his pocket.

Lonnie David Franklin Jr.

Committed ten murders between 1985 and 2007.

8 years, 24 days

Serial killer known as the "Grim Sleeper".

Ryan Hoyt

Murder of Nicholas Markowitz in 2000

22 years, 285 days

Michael Hughes

Raped and strangled at least four women between 1986 and 1993.

12 years, 70 days

In 1998, Hughes was originally sentenced to life without parole.

Based on the accompanying table as well as the passages provided at the end.

Respond to the question below: what is the description of the crime by the person born June 2 , 1954 ? Return your answer as JSON: {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}. Base your answer solely on the given information.

Rodney James Alcala ( born Rodrigo Jacques Alcala Buquor ; August 23 , 1943 ) is an American convicted rapist and serial killer who was sentenced to death in California for five murders committed in that state between 1977 and 1979 , and received an additional sentence of 25 years to life after pleading guilty to two homicides committed in New York in 1971 and 1977 . Alcala 's true victim count remains unknown , and could be much higher . Alcala compiled a collection of more than 1,000 photographs of women and teenage boys , many in sexually explicit poses . In 2016 , he was charged with the 1977 murder of a woman identified in one of his photos . Alcala is known to have assaulted one other photographic subject , and police have speculated that others could be rape or murder victims as well . Prosecutors have said that Alcala toyed with his victims , strangling them until they lost consciousness , then waiting until they revived , sometimes repeating this process several times before finally killing them . One police detective described Alcala as a killing machine , and others have compared him to Ted Bundy . Alcala is sometimes called the Dating Game Killer because of his 1978 appearance on the television show The Dating Game in the midst of his murder spree .
Maria del Rosio Rosie Alfaro ( born October 12 , 1971 ) is an American woman convicted of the 1990 murder of 9-year-old Autumn Wallace in Anaheim , California . She is currently on California 's death row .
Richard Allen Davis ( born June 2 , 1954 ) is an American convicted murderer , whose criminal record fueled support for passage of California 's three-strikes law for repeat offenders . He is currently on death row in Adjustment Center at San Quentin State Prison , California . He was convicted in 1996 of first-degree murder and four special circumstances ( robbery , burglary , kidnapping , and a lewd act on a child ) of 12-year-old Polly Klaas . Davis abducted Klaas on October 1 , 1993 , from her Petaluma , California , home . A San Jose , California , Superior Court jury returned a verdict of death on August 5 , 1996 . After the verdict was read , Davis stood and made an obscene finger gesture at the courtroom camera with both hands . Later , at his formal sentencing , Davis read a statement claiming that Klaas had said to Davis , Just do n't do me like my dad , just before Davis killed her , implying that Klaas 's father was a child molester . Polly 's father , Marc Klaas , lunged at the defendant but was restrained by the bailiffs . Klaas then left the courtroom to avoid causing further commotion . Judge Thomas C. Hastings proceeded with the formality of the death sentence , saying Mr. Davis , this is always a traumatic and emotional decision for a judge . You made it very easy today by your conduct .
Polly Hannah Klaas ( January 3 , 1981 - October 1 , 1993 ) was an American murder victim whose case garnered national media attention . On October 1 , 1993 , at the age of twelve , she was kidnapped at knife point during a slumber party at her mother 's home in Petaluma , California . She was later strangled . Richard Allen Davis was convicted of her murder in 1996 and sentenced to death .
Richard Delmer Boyer is an American man convicted of murdering an elderly couple .
Luis Enrique Monroy Bracamontes is a convicted murderer who killed police officers in Northern California . On 24 October 2014 , Bracamontes opened fire on three Northern California sheriff 's deputies , killing two and wounding the third while a civilian was also wounded in the shooting . Bracamontes is a citizen of Mexico and a convicted drug dealer who was in the United States illegally . Bracamontes was sentenced to death in 2018 . Bracamontes ' case earned attention during the 2018 midterm elections when the Trump administration ran an ad blaming Democrats for the murders by Bracamontes . Fact-checkers found the assertions about Democrats in the ad to be false and the ad was described as racist . Cable channels such as Fox News , CNN and NBC stopped airing the ad and Facebook banned it from its platform .
Vincent Brothers ( born May 31 , 1962 ) is an American mass murderer convicted of killing his wife , their three children and his mother-in-law . Brothers was the former vice principal of John C. Fremont Elementary School in Bakersfield , California and holds a Master 's degree in education from California State University Bakersfield and a Bachelor 's degree from Norfolk State University . Brothers , who had months earlier married his wife for the second time , was convicted of killing her , their new baby , two toddlers and his mother-in-law on July 6 , 2003 . He attempted to create an alibi by flying to Columbus , Ohio under the pretext of visiting his brother . He drove his rental car to Bakersfield , murdered his family members , and returned to Ohio . Forensic analysis of the rental car showed insects native to states west of the Rocky Mountains and odometer readings that supported the round-trip to California . Brothers was convicted of first-degree murders with special circumstance of multiple murder and was ultimately sentenced to death .
Albert Greenwood Brown , Jr. ( born August 18 , 1954 ) is an American who has been convicted of sexual molestation with force of a minor , two counts of first-degree rape with force , and the first-degree murder of a teen girl in Riverside , California . He was scheduled to die by lethal injection at 9 p.m. on September 30 , 2010 , in California 's first use of capital punishment since the lifting of a court-ordered moratorium . The use of lethal injection had been suspended in the state since February 2006 because of objections of cruel and unusual punishment for shortcomings of the facilities and procedures previously in use at San Quentin State Prison . Brown 's lawyers appealed to block their client 's execution , with the execution initially planned to be carried out in a new facility at the prison that is certified to use either a single or three-drug protocol . The US Ninth Court of Appeals ordered US District Judge Jeremy D. Fogel to review the case and noted that the execution date may have been influenced by the fact that the prison 's inventory of sodium thiopental , one of the drugs required for lethal injection , would expire on October 1 , 2010 . Judge Fogel halted the execution to permit time to review whether the new injection procedures addressed previous objections . On September 29 , 2010 , the Supreme Court of California unanimously denied an appeal by the state to proceed by the end of the month . Brown 's execution was then delayed because the prison 's supply of the lethal injection drug had expired . The manufacturer of sodium thiopental stated that new supplies would not be available until 2011 .
David Joseph Carpenter ( born May 6 , 1930 ) , a.k.a . the Trailside Killer , is an American serial killer known for stalking and murdering a variety of individuals on hiking trails in state parks near San Francisco , California . Carpenter killed at least ten individuals , with two attempted victims , Steven Haertle and Lois Rinna , surviving . He used a .38 caliber handgun in all but one of the killings ; a .44 caliber handgun was used in the killing of Edda Kane on Mount Tamalpais .
Dean Phillip Carter ( born August 30 , 1955 ) is a convicted spree killer currently housed on San Quentin , California 's Death row . He has been convicted ( trials ) of the murder of four women : Susan Knoll , Jillette Mills , Bonnie Guthrie , and Janette Cullins . He was also implicated in the death of Tok Chum Kim . On March 25 , 1984 Carter raped a woman who survived his attack .
Steven David Catlin ( born 1944 ) is a convicted American serial killer . He is currently housed in San Quentin State Prison .
Douglas Daniel Clark ( born March 10 , 1948 ) is an American serial killer . Clark and his accomplice , Carol M. Bundy , were collectively known as the Sunset Strip Killers . They were accused and subsequently convicted of a variety of murders in Los Angeles , California .
Carol M. Bundy ( August 26 , 1942 - December 9 , 2003 ) was an American serial killer . Bundy and Doug Clark became collectively known as the Sunset Strip Killers after being convicted of a series of murders in Los Angeles during the late spring and early summer of 1980 . The victims were young sex workers or runaways .
Cynthia Lynn Coffman ( born January 19 , 1962 ) is an American woman convicted in the 1986 deaths of two women in California . She was convicted along with her boyfriend , James Marlow . Coffman admits to committing the murders , but insists she suffered from battered woman syndrome . She was sentenced to death and is sitting on death row in Central California Women 's Facility .
ICD9 code 995.81 shows the syndrome as including battered person/man/spouse syndrome NEC , and any person presenting with identified physical descriptors rather than psychological descriptors falls under the general heading of Adult physical abuse , classified under Injury and Poisoning . DSM-IV-TR does not provide a distinct diagnostic category for reactions to battering . Rather the diverse reactions of battered people are treated as separate diagnoses , for example , posttraumatic stress disorder ( PTSD ) or depression .
Kevin Cooper ( born January 8 , 1958 ) is a death row inmate currently held in California 's San Quentin Prison . Cooper was convicted of four murders that occurred in the Chino Hills area of California in 1983. Cooper also admitted in court to the kidnap and rape of an underage female in Pennsylvania during a burglary attempt and was accused of rape by a second woman in California . Since his arrest , Cooper , who is African American , has become active in writing letters from prison asserting his innocence , protesting racism in the American criminal justice system , and opposing the death penalty . Cooper 's habeas corpus petitions have been denied . The evidence in the case has been reviewed during the original trial , by the California Supreme Court , by the United States District Court , and by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals . In 2007 , two judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit wrote that As the district court , and all state courts , have repeatedly found , evidence of Cooper 's guilt was overwhelming . The tests that he asked for to show his innocence 'once and for all ' show nothing of the sort . In a concurring opinion , however , Judge Margaret McKeown said she was troubled that the court could not resolve the question of Cooper 's guilt once and for all and noted that significant evidence bearing on Cooper 's culpability has been lost , destroyed or left unpursued . In a dissenting opinion written in 2009 , Judge William A. Fletcher began by stating : the State of California may be about to execute an innocent man . Fletcher wrote that the police may have tampered with the evidence and that the Ninth Circuit should have reheard the case en banc and should have ordered the district judge to give Cooper the fair hearing he has never had . Five judges joined in Fletcher 's dissent and five more stated that Cooper has never had a fair hearing to determine his innocence .
Tiequon Aundray Lil Fee Cox ( born December 1 , 1965 ) is a convicted murderer currently incarcerated in San Quentin State Prison . Cox became one of the prime suspects of a mass murder investigation concerning the deaths of Ebora Alexander , aged 59 , Dietra Alexander , aged 25 , two boys Damon Bonner , aged 6 , and Damani Garner-Alexander , aged 12 . These four were relatives of former NFL defensive back Kermit Alexander . Cox was also a noted member of the Rollin ' 60 , one of the many sets affiliated to the Crips , and actually still on parole on an unrelated charge .
Kermit Joseph Alexander ( born January 4 , 1941 ) is a former American football defensive back in the National Football League . He was on the Board of Directors for the Lott IMPACT Trophy , which is named after Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive back Ronnie Lott , and is awarded annually to college football 's defensive IMPACT Player of the Year .
Scott Thomas Erskine ( born December 22 , 1962 ) is an American serial killer on California 's death row , convicted in 2003 for the 1993 murder of two California boys . He is currently incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison .
Richard Wade Farley ( born July 25 , 1948 ) is an American convicted mass murderer . A former employee of ESL Incorporated in Sunnyvale , California , he stalked his co-worker Laura Black for four years beginning in 1984 . Black obtained a temporary restraining order against him on February 2 , 1988 , with a court date set for February 17 , 1988 to make the order permanent . On February 16 , 1988 , Richard Farley shot and killed seven people at ESL and wounded four others , including Laura Black . He was convicted of seven counts of first degree murder , and is currently on death row at San Quentin .
Wayne Adam Ford ( born December 3 , 1961 ) is an American serial killer .
Lonnie David Franklin Jr. [ citation needed ] ( born August 30 , 1952 ) , [ citation needed ] better known by the nickname Grim Sleeper , is an American convicted serial killer awaiting execution who was responsible for at least ten murders and one attempted murder in Los Angeles , California . Franklin earned his nickname when he appeared to have taken a 14-year break from his crimes , from 1988 to 2002 . In July 2010 , Franklin was arrested as a suspect , and , after many delays , his trial began in February 2016 . On May 5 , 2016 , the jury convicted him of killing nine women and one teenage girl . On June 6 , 2016 , the jury recommended the death penalty , and on August 10 , 2016 , the Los Angeles Superior Court sentenced him to death for each of the ten victims named in the verdict .
Ryan James Hoyt ( born August 10 , 1979 ) was an associate of Jesse James Hollywood and was convicted of the murder of Nicholas Markowitz on August 9 , 2000 . He reportedly owed Hollywood money for drugs and was offered the opportunity to kill Markowitz as a way of erasing his debt . During his trial , Hoyt took the stand and told the court he did not remember confessing to killing Markowitz . In November 2001 , Hoyt was convicted of first-degree murder and was sentenced to death . In the film Alpha Dog , the character Elvis Schmidt was modeled after Hoyt . The role was played by actor Shawn Hatosy .
Nicholas Samuel Nick Markowitz ( September 19 , 1984 - August 9 , 2000 ) was an American teenager who was kidnapped and murdered at the age of 15 after a feud over drug money between his half-brother Benjamin Markowitz and Jesse James Hollywood .
Michael Hughes ( born c. 1956 ) is an American serial killer convicted and sentenced to life without parole for the murders of four women and girls in California , and later , in another trial , sentenced to death for the murders of three other women .