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Joseph
Martin DANKS
A.K.A.: "Koreatown
Slasher"
Classification: Spree killer
Characteristics: Danks believed killing old people was "the
Lord's work"
Number of victims: 7
Date of murders: January 6-20, 1987 / 1990
Date
of arrest: January 20, 1987
Date of birth: 1961
Victims profile: Christopher
Forsblade, 40 / Isaac Davis / John Coble, 55 / Three "John Doe" victims (homeless
transients)
/ Walter Holt, 67 (his cellmate)
Method of murder: Stabbing with knife / Strangulation with bed sheets
Location: Los Angeles/Tehachapi, California,
USA
Status: Sentenced to 156 years to life in prison in 1988.Sentenced to death in 1993
Joseph Martin
Danks, who was 30 at the time of his
trial, was sentenced to death in 1993 for killing Walter Holt, his 67-year-old
cellmate at the California Correctional Institution
in Tehachapi.
Danks, who choked Holt to
death with bed sheets in 1990, was serving a sentence of 156 years to
life for murdering six homeless people in Los Angeles.
Joseph Martin Danks
On January 1987, transients in Los Angeles were
falling prey to yet another random slayer -- the fifth to prey on
homeless men within a decade. Like his predecessors in the latter 1970s,
this stalker favored knives, which he employed with speed and deadly
skill.
His victims were selected from among the drifters in Koreatown
and its immediate vicinity, invariably cut down from behind. According
to police, the killer struck "with such force that it's almost
instant death. He's vicious and he's fast."
The first known victim was Christopher
Forsblade, age 40, found dead on January 6.
Eight days later, the slasher killed
Isaac Davis at high noon, rebounding with the murder of 55-year-old John
Coble less than three hours later. A "John Doe" victim in his
early forties, unidentified, was slain on January 16, but the killer
missed his mark the next day, leaving Almond Lord alive. Another near-miss,
with 58-year-old James Lyons, marred the stalker's record on January 20,
but he struck back with a vengeance that afternoon, claiming his second
"John Doe" in a downtown alley.
This time, there were witnesses, and they pursued the killer for five
blocks, finally hailing a patrol car. Cornered by police, the suspect
dropped his knife, submitting to arrest without resistance.
A drifter
from Michigan, 26-year-old Joseph Danks confessed to the series of
stabbings after his knife blade was matched to the wounds of his victims.
Michael Newton - An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial
Killers
Death Penalty Upheld Despite Misconduct
By Maura Dolan - Los Angeles Times
February 03, 2004
SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court
upheld the death sentence Monday for a deranged killer, even though
two jurors committed misconduct by asking their Christian clerics
for guidance in the middle of deliberations.
One pastor advised that execution was compatible with
biblical teachings, while the other told a Kern County juror that he
would not hesitate to recommend death in the case.
The court's 4-3 ruling is expected to spur expanded
juror warnings against discussing a case outside the courtroom, a
prohibition designed to ensure cases are decided only on the basis of
evidence presented in court.
And the decision may also make it harder for
defendants to challenge verdicts when jury misconduct occurs.
The misconduct at issue occurred in the trial of
Joseph Martin Danks, 41, who was charged with the 1990 murder of a
fellow prison inmate in Kern County.
At the time of the murder, Danks was serving 156
years to life for killing six transients in Los Angeles, where he had
been dubbed the "Koreatown Slasher."
One of the jurors passed around passages from the
Bible during deliberations, including this verse: "If a man strikes
someone with an iron object so that he dies, he is a murderer; the
murderer shall be put to death."
In the majority ruling by Justice Janice Rogers Brown,
the court observed that the evidence against Danks was so extensive that
the jurors probably would have voted for the death penalty even without
the misconduct.
"We are unable to prescribe to any perceived
stereotype that jurors who receive advice from Christian spiritual
leaders or are exposed to Biblical passages
But the majority found it "troubling" that two jurors
had spoken to their pastors, and recommended that jury instructions be
clarified to state that warnings against discussing the case extend to
spiritual advisors, spouses and therapists.
Justice Carlos R. Moreno, one of the three justices
who agreed with the guilty verdict but dissented on the sentence, said
the jury misconduct was so "egregious" and "flagrant" that the death
sentence should be overturned, despite Danks' "horrific" crimes and "shocking"
lack of remorse.
Moreno observed that Danks choked his 67-year-old
cellmate to death because Danks believed killing old people was "the
Lord's work." Danks also choked and stabbed another inmate in 1989.
During his 1993 murder trial, Danks stabbed his
lawyer in the face and then dove toward the jury before a bailiff
restrained him. While testifying during the penalty phase of his trial,
Danks said he had stabbed the transients in Los Angeles while they slept.
Addressing the jurors, Danks added: "I would do it to you too."
But the jurors also heard testimony that Danks was
paranoid and delusional. He thought that celebrities excreted into his
food. Danks scrubbed his cell with a toothbrush six to 10 times a day.
Witnesses said he had exhibited such behavior for years.
"Against this backdrop, and in direct violation of
the court's order not to discuss trial matters with nonjurors, two
jurors took the extraordinary step of discussing their possible death
verdict with their pastors," Moreno wrote.
"The majority fails to appreciate," Moreno added, "that
this deplorable juror misconduct undermines the integrity of
California's death penalty process."
Justice Joyce L. Kennard also took issue with the
majority's finding that the jury would have voted for death even without
the misconduct.
Noting that Danks' mental impairment appeared to be
comparable to mental retardation, Kennard said the jury could have
determined that his deficiencies diminished his culpability.
"Although mental illness does not warrant an
exemption from criminal sanctions, California law recognizes it as a
mitigating factor that weighs against capital punishment," Kennard wrote.
Chief Justice Ronald M. George signed both dissents.
Deputy Atty. Gen. Lloyd G. Carter said the decision
would probably lead to an expanded jury admonition about discussing the
case within a year or so.
"I think the court reached the right decision, and I
don't think we have any quarrel with a revised jury instruction that
makes it clear to jurors how they are supposed to behave," Carter said.
Musawwir Spiegel, who represented Danks, said he
would ask the state high court to reconsider the decision, and if he is
unsuccessful, would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The state high court also is considering another
appeal by Danks based on evidence not presented at trial.
"A capital defendant has the right to have their
penalty decided based on the law of California, not based on religious
doctrine or the guidance of ministers," he said.
Spiegel said the ruling in People vs. Danks would "make
it harder than ever for a defendant whose verdict was infected by jury
misconduct to get any relief."
