Michael Hughes Serving Life for 4 Cali Murders Charged in 4 Cold Case Killings

[Jeff1857]

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Prosecutors say a man already serving life in prison has been charged with four cold-case killings that could make him eligible for the death penalty.

Deputy Los Angeles County District Attorney Bobby Grace says 51-year-old Michael Hughes is charged with four counts each of murder and rape and one count of sodomy by force.

The new case alleges he raped and murdered three women and a teenager from 1986 to 1993. Autopsies done at the time concluded the victims were sexually assaulted and strangled.

Grace says Los Angeles police detectives assigned to investigate unsolved murders linked Hughes to the murders based on DNA samples from the women's bodies.

Hughes was convicted in 1998 in the murders of four people.
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DNA got another one. Every inmate arrested should be required to provide a sample.

[Jeff1857]

LOS ANGELES ---- A serial killer serving a life term for killing four women returned to court Thursday to face charges of committing four additional murders in a spree starting more than two decades ago.

Michael Hughes, 51, is charged with sexually assaulting and strangling two women and two teenage girls in the Los Angeles area between 1986 and 1993. Homicide detectives linked him to the killings after new forensic technologies matched his DNA to samples taken from the victims, police said.

Hughes did not enter a plea and his arraignment was rescheduled for Aug. 6. He had not been assigned a public defender.

Hughes is serving life in prison without parole for killing four other women between 1992 and 1993. He had been serving his sentence at Kern Valley State Prison but has been transferred to the Los Angeles County jail system while he faces the new charges.

Prosecutors have not determined whether they will seek the death penalty, said Los Angeles County district attorney's spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons.

Hughes is accused of killing 15-year-old Yvonne Coleman on Jan. 22, 1986, after she left her boyfriend's home. Her body was found in an Inglewood park. The other three were killed in Los Angeles. They were Verna Williams, 15, whose body was discovered in a stairwell May 26, 1986; Deanna Wilson, 30, found in a garage Aug. 30, 1990; and Deborah Jackson, 32, whose body was found June 25, 1993.

Homicide Detective Clifford Shepard, one of two main investigators in the case, said the victims died at the height of the crack cocaine epidemic when Los Angeles' murder rate was hitting record highs, peaking in 1992 with more than 1,000 homicides. He said the three victims killed in Los Angeles had cocaine in their systems. Coleman did not.

"It was almost an epidemic of women being found strangled and dumped who had cocaine in their systems," Shepard said. "Some were being secreted, many of them were being found on roadsides or in alleys."

Authorities initially suspected the dozens of strangled female corpses to be the work of one serial killer, dubbed the "south-side slayer." Investigators later found that several killers were responsible, including Chester Turner who last year was convicted and sentenced to death for killing 10 women and a fetus, Shepard said.

Shepard said he is investigating whether Hughes was involved in other slayings. He said victims may be found across the country, since Hughes served in the U.S. Navy and spent time in Michigan, San Diego and Long Beach.

Shepard said he has notified other police agencies in Southern California in case they have similar unsolved cases that could be linked to Hughes.

"We are not sure how many victims there are," Shepard said. "There could be many more out there."

Hughes was arrested by Culver City police in December 1993 and convicted in 1998 of killing Teresa Ballard, Brenda Bradley, Terri Myles and Jamie Harrington.

Hughes appeared before Superior Court Judge Craig Richman to face the latest charges. The judge was called in after Superior Court Commissioner Henry J. Hall recused himself from the case because he had defended Hughes while working as a lawyer.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/07/03//news/state//zba0d7ab4abc516a48825747c00007891.txt

[heidi salazar]

[Man Who Killed 4 Women May Get Death Penalty/b]

Prosecutors announced Tuesday they will seek the death penalty for a man already serving a life term for killing four women in the 1990s.

Michael Hughes, 53, was also indicted last year on charges that he murdered three other people, including a 15-year-old girl, in the 1980s and 1990s.

He is awaiting trial on three counts of murder and one count each of forcible rape and sodomy by use of force.

The charges involve the slayings of Yvonne Coleman, 15, Verna Williams, 36, and 32-year-old Deborah Jackson.

The murder counts include special circumstance allegations that Hughes committed multiple murders and that he had previously been convicted of first-degree murder, which could make him eligible for a death sentence.

Hughes was linked to the crimes through DNA samples from sexual assault kits.

Hughes was previously convicted of the September 1992 killing of Teresa Ballard, the October 1992 slaying of Brenda Bradley and the November 1993 murders of Terri Myles and Jamie Harrington.

He remains jailed without bail and is due back at the downtown Los Angeles courthouse on July 30 for a pretrial hearing.

http://cbs2.com/local/Michael.Hughes.Death.2.1765959.html

[AnneTheBelgian]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/10/24/state/n123030D67.DTL

Calif. serial killer goes on trial for more deaths

By GREG RISLING, Associated Press

Monday, October 24, 2011

(10-24) 12:30 PDT Los Angeles, CA (AP) --

A convicted serial killer should be found guilty of three additional cold-case murders that occurred in the Los Angeles area because his DNA was found on the victims' bodies, a prosecutor said in opening statements Monday.

Michael Hughes, 54, is serving a life sentence for the murder convictions 13 years ago of four women in 1992 and 1993. He was charged three years ago with the strangulation deaths of 15-year-old Yvonne Coleman after she left her boyfriend's home and three other women in their 30s between 1986 and 1993.

Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said jurors will hear about "a story of a serial killer" in the deaths of Coleman and two prostitutes, Verna Williams in 1986 and Deborah Jackson in 1993. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty and would present the fourth case as evidence during the penalty phase of the trial if jurors find Hughes guilty of first-degree murder.

In a slideshow presentation, Silverman showed the jury how the victims' nude bodies were posed for discovery, with their legs spread apart, in order to shock whoever found them. In at least two of the cases, prosecutors allege Hughes placed one of the victims' hands near their groin area to simulate masturbation.

DNA evidence was found at each of the crime scenes and was sent to labs that confirmed Hughes was the killer, Silverman said.

In Coleman's case, the chance that someone else was the murderer was one in 4.3 sextillion people, a number "greater than the population on Earth," Silverman noted.

Defense attorney Norman Kallen said the prosecution's case rests solely on forensic evidence: "There are no eyewitnesses, no confession." He also noted both Williams and Jackson were prostitutes.

Authorities said the victims died at the height of the crack cocaine epidemic when Los Angeles' murder rate hit record highs, peaking in 1992 with more than 1,000 homicides. Coleman was the only one of the four victims that did not have cocaine in their systems, prosecutors said.

Coleman had skipped school the day before her body was found near a barbecue pit in a park in January 1986. She was with her boyfriend, then left his house and said she was going to catch a bus home.

Silverman said grass was found in Coleman's mouth and throat, indicating she was likely held face down while she was being attacked.

"This was a 15-year-old girl who was at the wrong place at the wrong time," Silverman said as Coleman's mother listened from the courtroom gallery.

Hughes, a hulking figure wearing a cardigan sweater, glasses and had a short braided ponytail, did not visibly react during Silverman's opening statement, but often jotted down notes.

The former security guard was investigated by a task force looking into the notorious "Southside Slayer" killings that claimed the lives of as many as 90 women in inner-city Los Angeles. Investigators later found that several killers were responsible, including Chester Turner who was convicted and sentenced to death for killing 10 women and a fetus. Turner has also been charged with four more slayings dating back to the mid-1980s.









Photo : The serial killer Michael Hughes












Anne

[AnneTheBelgian]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/11/south-la-serial-killer.html

South L.A. serial killer convicted in three more murders

November 3, 2011

11:49 am

A former security guard already convicted of multiple murders a decade ago was found guilty by a jury Thursday of three additional slayings.

In 1998, Michael Hughes was convicted of killing four women, three of whom were choked to death and dumped in alleys in a commercial area of Culver City. He was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

Los Angeles police cold-case homicide detectives later linked Hughes to the strangulation slayings of four more victims, ages 15 to 36, through DNA evidence. He was convicted Thursday in three of those cases: the deaths of Yvonne Coleman, 15, Verna Patricia Williams, 36, and Deanna Marie Wilson, 30.

The killings came in an era when authorities say that at least five serial killers, and possibly more, were active in the South Los Angeles area. During the 1980s and early 1990s, these killers targeted mostly young African American women, dumping their bodies in alleys, vacant buildings or parks.

At the time, the eight killings were footnotes in an era of unprecedented violence in Los Angeles that began in the 1980s with the crack cocaine epidemic that fueled gang activity. The resulting violence saw the number of homicides soar to more than 1,000 annually in the early 1990s.
The slayings linked to Hughes were very similar to crimes committed by other serial murderers who were in Los Angeles at the time. In recent years, prosecutors have convicted two other men -- Chester Turner and Ivan J. Hill -- in similar killing sprees.

Authorities long suspected Hughes was linked to killings beyond Los Angeles because of his frequent movements. He lived in Long Beach, San Diego and Michigan.

His life sentence was for convictions in the deaths of Teresa Ballard, 26, whose partly clothed body was found in Jesse Owens County Park near Western Avenue and Century Boulevard in Los Angeles on Sept. 23, 1992; Brenda Bradley, 38, whose partly clothed body was found in an alley near the eastern tip of Culver City 12 days later; Terri Myles, 33, whose nude body was found two blocks away from the Bradley crime scene on Nov. 8, 1993; and Jamie Harrington, 29, whose clothed body was found nearby on Nov. 14, 1993.

The latest series of cases were investigated by LAPD detectives Cliff Shepard and Paul Coulter. The victims include Coleman, 15, a student at Morningside High School in Inglewood who left her home in January 1986 and was found in one of the city's parks.

Four months later, the body of Williams, 36, was discovered at 68th Street School in South L.A. by students. In addition, detectives linked Hughes to the August 1990 killing of  Wilson, 30, at a home on West 55th Street, and the 1992 death of Deborah Jackson, 32, who was found near a trash container outside a paint store in the Mid-City area of Los Angeles.

At the time, the victims were believed to be the victims of the so-called Southside Slayer. It was later determined that there were multiple serial killers operating in the area at the time.

The penalty phase of the capital murder trial begins Monday before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Curtis Rappe.












Other link : Map: Serial Killers in South L.A. : http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-serialkillersmap-0804-i,0,515310.htmlstory











Anne

[AnneTheBelgian]

This is another photo of this POS... (link : http://www.bradenton.com/2011/11/03/3623668/la-man-guilty-of-3-more-southside.html)

AP Photo - FILE - This Oct. 24, 2011 file photo shows convicted murderer Michael Hughes, during opening statements of his murder trial in Los Angeles.















Anne

[AnneTheBelgian]

http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20111213/APN/1112130569?Title=Jurors-asked-to-spare-life-of-LA-serial-killer

Jurors asked to spare life of LA serial killer
By GREG RISLING
Associated Press
Published: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 1:30 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 1:30 p.m.

LOS ANGELES - A defense attorney has asked a jury to spare the life of a serial killer convicted of murdering six women and a 15-year-old girl during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Lawyer Aron Laub told jurors during his closing argument Tuesday that the law doesn't compel them to give his client, Michael Hughes, the death penalty.

Jurors were expected to begin deliberating later Tuesday in the penalty phase of Hughes' trial. Hughes was found guilty last month of murdering two women and a teenage girl between 1986 and 1993.

Hughes had been serving a life sentence for killing four women in the 1990s.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

In arguing for the death penalty for a convicted serial killer, a prosecutor called Michael Hughes an opportunistic predator who targeted prostitutes and other women society might not care about.

Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman told a jury Monday in the penalty phase of Hughes' trial that the lives of the women he murdered should be valued and that a just punishment for his crimes should be a death sentence. To illustrate her point, she placed large photos of the victims on each side of the jury box.

"If there ever was a case where the death penalty is appropriate, it's this case," Silverman said.

Hughes, 55, already was serving a life sentence for killing four women in the 1990s. He was found guilty last month of murdering Yvonne Coleman, 15, Verna Williams, 36, and Deborah Jackson, 32, between 1986 and 1993.

He was investigated by a task force looking into the killings of as many as 90 women in South Los Angeles. Police dubbed the killer the "Southside Slayer" but later concluded at least three serial killers were stalking women during a crack cocaine epidemic that led some women onto the streets as prostitutes in order to support their habits.

Jurors will have to decide whether Hughes should be given the death penalty or life in prison without parole. Defense attorney Aron Laub will present his closing argument Tuesday.

DNA evidence linked Hughes to killings that authorities say were done for sexual gratification, Silverman said. Coleman was raped and like many of the other victims, she was strangled.

Silverman called the murders vicious and callous, once again noting how some of the victims' nude bodies were posed for discovery, with their legs spread apart, in order to shock whoever found them.

None of the experts called to testify said Hughes was insane or had any abnormal brain dysfunction, Silverman said. While Hughes may have had an abusive childhood, as the defense contends, that doesn't mitigate the severity of the crimes he committed, the prosecutor said.

"He has to pay with the most important thing he has - his life," she said.




























Anne

[turboprinz]

Already serving life for four murders, L.A. killer faces death for three more
By Terri Vermeulen Keith, City News Service
Posted:   06/22/2012 01:24:04 PM PDT
Updated:   06/22/2012 01:24:59 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES -- A man who is already serving a life prison term without the possibility of parole for four murders was sentenced today to death for suffocating a 15-year-old girl and strangling two women between 1986 and 1993.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Curtis B. Rappe said he was "satisfied beyond all doubt that Michael Hughes is guilty" and that the case "warrants the imposition of death."

Hughes, now 55, convicted Nov. 3 of first-degree murder for the slayings of Yvonne Coleman, 15, Verna Williams, 37, and Deborah Jackson, 32, between January 1986 and June 1993.

Jurors recommended Dec. 13 that he be sentenced to death for the slayings.

Hughes was convicted in 1998 of the September 1992 killing of Theresa Ballard, the October 1992 slaying of the late Mayor Tom Bradley's niece, Brenda Bradley, and the November 1993 murders of Terri Myles and Jamie Harrington. He was serving a life term for those crimes when he was charged in June 2008 in the deaths of Coleman, Williams and Jackson.

Los Angeles Police Department detectives linked Hughes to the three additional slayings through DNA while investigating unsolved murders committed between 1960 and 1997.

He is also suspected in an eighth killing -- the slaying of Deanna Wilson, who was discovered Aug. 30, 1990, in a garage at 323 W. 55th St.

In rejecting an automatic motion to reduce the jury's recommendation from death to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the judge noted that Coleman,
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Williams and Jackson had all been posed in a sexually explicit manner.

Jurors found true a special circumstance allegation that the teen -- who was found dead just after dawn Jan. 22, 1986, in Imperial Park in Inglewood -- had been raped and sodomized. She had been suffocated with her face pressed into the ground.

The jury also found true two other special circumstance allegations -- multiple murders and a prior murder conviction.

Williams was found dead by two teenagers in the stairwell of a school on 68th Street on May 26, 1986, while Jackson's body was discovered by a security guard at 4635 W. Pico Blvd. on June 25, 1993. Both women had been strangled.

A number of the victims' family members were on hand as the sentence was handed down.

Wilson's sister, Debbie Sallie, called Hughes a "monster" and said "death is what he deserves."

Coleman's mother, Linda, told the judge that "there will never be an equitable amount of justice served," but requested the "maximum penalty" in calling for a death sentence.

Hughes did not speak during the sentencing hearing.

Hughes had been tortured as a child by his mother, defense attorney Aron Laub told the judge.

Hughes' lawyer told jurors during the trial's penalty phase that the defendant's mother was 15 when he was born, suffered psychiatric problems after the deaths of two of her younger children and repeatedly beat him.

"It wasn't one beating with an extension cord ... It was a mother screaming that she was going to kill them," the defense lawyer told jurors.

Hughes suffered "12 years of endless violence," Laub said. "That's not a childhood. That's a laboratory for destruction."

Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman countered that Hughes was a "psychopathic, sadistic" killer who "deserves to pay the ultimate penalty."

"Nothing that happened to the defendant as a child could justify what he's done ... This is a defendant who takes joy in inflicting pain on women," the prosecutor said.

Hughes had positioned his victims' bodies to further "degrade" them, she said.

"This defendant is just merely evil," the prosecutor said. "This defendant has more than earned a death sentence."

After the sentencing, Hughes' attorney said he expects his client -- who he said is in poor health -- will die of natural causes in prison "years before his number comes up for execution."
http://www.dailynews.com/ci_20918177/already-serving-life-four-murders-l-killer-faces?source=most_viewed