DA To Seek Death Penalty In San Quentin Stabbing
NOVATO (CBS SF) -- Marin County District Attorney Ed Berberian will seek the death penalty against a San Quentin State Prison inmate charged with killing another inmate who was serving time for a 2009 DUI crash which killed a 9-year-old girl in Novato.
Frank Anthony Souza, 32, allegedly stabbed Edward John Schaefer, 44, seven times with a homemade weapon in the prison's exercise yard on July 26, 2010, San Quentin authorities said.
He was indicted in November 2010 on a first-degree murder charge with two special circumstances—lying in wait and having a prior first-degree murder conviction—that make him eligible for the death penalty.
Schaefer was stabbed two weeks after he began serving a sentence of 24 years to life for second-degree murder and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.
His motorcycle struck and killed 9-year-old Melody Osheroff and maimed her father, Aaron Osheroff, in a Novato crosswalk on May 27, 2009.
Souza was serving 60 years to life for the first-degree murder of a homeless man in Santa Clara County. He allegedly killed Schaefer to avenge Osheroff's death.
Berberian said Thursday morning that his decision to seek the death penalty—the first time he's sought it in his seven years as district attorney—followed a thorough evaluation of whether it would be appropriate.
He said Souza's decision to kill Schaefer was "cold, calculated and pre-meditated," and noted that Souza could possibly be paroled for the Santa Clara County murder.
Berberian said he offered Souza a plea agreement that would avoid the death penalty if Souza agreed to a term of life without parole for Schaefer's murder and would not appeal his convictions for the Santa Clara murder and a conviction for Schaefer's murder.
"The defense rejected them," Berberian said.
Souza's attorney, M. Gerald Schwartzbach, Thursday morning called Berberian's decision "irrational and fiscally irresponsible" because a capital murder trial is more expensive and requires more time and preparation.
He said of Souza, "He'll never get out of prison and he'll be housed in a secure unit, if not on Death Row, and he will be no threat to anyone."
California voters could vote next year on abolishing the death penalty if pending state legislation is passed and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, Schwartzbach said.
"The death penalty may be gone as early as next year," Schwartzbach said.
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