Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : COURTS : Girl’s Killer Gets Death Sentence
For the third time, Thomas Francis Edwards was sentenced to death for the 1981 murder of 12-year-old Vanessa Iberri in the Cleveland National Forest.
Orange County Superior Court Judge James F. Judge upheld the jury’s recommendation in sentencing Edwards, 43, to die in the state’s gas chamber. Twice before, the penalty phase of the proceedings resulted in mistrials.
Edwards was convicted in 1983 of shooting Iberri to death with a single shotgun blast between the eyes, and wounding her best friend, Kelly Cartier, 12, while the girls were on a supervised, overnight camping trip.
“I think he’s one of the most dangerous people I’ve ever had to deal with, probably the most dangerous in 15 years as a prosecutor,†said Deputy Dist. Atty. John B. Conley.
Deputy Public Defender Michael P. Giannini said the case will be automatically appealed, as are all capital cases.
“An eye for an eye,†said Joseph Iberri, the slain girl’s father. “We can’t rehabilitate these people. It just doesn’t work.â€
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