Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón has requested the reversal of a 1994 death sentence of a “mentally ill” man who murdered two students, calling the sentence “racistically and morally untenable.”
Raymond Oscar Butler, now 46, was 18 years old when he murdered Marymount California University students Takuma Ito and Go Matsuura in a 1994 carjacking in San Pedro.
Earlier this month, Gascón now filed a 264-page file requesting that his death sentence be reversed Whittier Daily News. The DA said the killer suffered “significant cognitive impairment” during the time of the crime due to mental illness and trauma.
The motion stated that Butler’s cognitive impairment caused him to use drugs and alcohol to numb his anxiety, the Whittier Daily News reported.
If the motion is granted, Butler’s sentence will be reduced to life without parole. However, it does not reverse the separate death penalty that Butler received for fatally stabbing another inmate in 2012.
In a video posted to his Twitter, Gascón – who is strongly against the death penalty – said that “more than 50 percent of people on death row today, including those from this district, which is about 250, have serious mental health problems. ‘
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Raymond Oscar Butler, now 46, was 18 years old when he killed Marymount California University students Takuma Ito and Go Matsuura in a 1994 carjacking in San Pedro.
The two aspiring filmmakers (pictured) were delving into Ralph’s grocery story after dinner with their friends when Butler shot them both in the back of the head and carjacked them.
Los Angeles DA George Gascón, 68, recently filed a 264-page report calling for the reversal of Butler’s death penalty, requesting that it be reduced to life without parole (Photo: Butler in 1994)
He also criticizes the massive amounts that go towards the death penalty. The death penalty costs more than incarcerating a prisoner for life.
Gascón said that incarcerating inmates for life without parole costs about $100,000 a year, while inmates on death row cost about “half a million dollars a year.”
The DA, who has been widely criticized for his lax bail laws, said he was “against the death penalty, but that doesn’t equate to not being accountable.”
The 68-year-old also criticized that the death penalty is “disproportionately applied to people of color, to poor people, to people with mental health problems.”
But no matter how morally Gascón justifies his decision, critics accuse him of not being “transparent” and “disrespecting the jury’s decision.”
“George Gascón does not endorse, understand or agree with these values. And, as this case makes clear, he still believes he is above the law and beyond question,” Eric Siddall, the VP of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, told the Whittier Daily News.
In 1994, the murder of the students made international headlines after they were fatally shot in a supermarket parking lot on March 25.
The ambitious filmmakers had just finished dinner with friends when they drove into Ralph’s when Butler carjacked them.
Gascón, who is largely against the death penalty, said Butler’s sentence was “racistically and morally untenable” because of his mental illness. He also argued that “more than 50 percent” of death row inmates are mentally ill, people of color or poor and that it costs significantly more to house them than ordinary inmates.
Butler shot both men in the back of the head before hopping into the 1994 Honda Civic after dumping the bodies.
The men were taken to hospital and kept alive until their families were able to fly over from Japan.
Butler was arrested a few days later after being plucked from a lineup.
At the time, Butler’s mother, Donna, said the “system” had failed him and that her son suffered from suicidal tendencies and alcoholism. Los Angeles Times reported in 1994.
Butler attempted suicide at age 17 by drinking two bottles of liquor and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for 72 hours, his mother said in 1994. She reportedly begged doctors to keep him longer, but he was discharged after his death. mandatory arrest.