Jury Told of Killer’s Earlier Crimes in Bid for Death Penalty
Two women identified convicted killer David Weeding in court Wednesday as the man who sexually assaulted them in 1975.
The opening statement by Deputy Dist. Atty. Les Dubow was the first the jurors heard of Weeding’s prior sex convictions. Prosecutors are trying to persuade the Superior Court jury that convicted Weeding last week of killing Daily Californian reporter Steve Petix to send Weeding to the gas chamber.
Weeding, 40, of Santee was sentenced by a military court to 25 years in prison for four rape convictions in 1976 and was released after serving 10 years, prosecutors said.
Two of the victims recounted the sexual assaults, which took place in their homes in Texas, where Weeding was stationed in the Army.
Petix, 31, was stabbed five times in his El Cajon apartment May 20, 1988, after coming to the aid of his wife, Vickie, 24, who was fighting an attacker.
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