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AP
Undated photo of convicted murderer Juan Corona.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A California man who once was the nation's worst known serial killer is up for parole, four decades after the mutilated bodies of 25 farmworkers were unearthed in orchards north of Sacramento.
Juan Corona, 77, has been diagnosed with dementia and mental illness. He is making his seventh bid for parole from Corcoran State Prison in the southern Central Valley.
None of his victims' relatives were expected to attend Monday's hearing, which Sutter County District Attorney Carl Adams said is a sad testament to Corona's crime, which targeted people who had few relatives.
"We have had no contact with survivors for two decades now. The people who he killed were farm laborers who were itinerant. Most of them didn't have relatives who could be contacted back in the '70s at the time of trial," Adams said.
Four of the bodies have never been identified. The bodies of 14 of Corona's victims were never claimed by family members after they were discovered in 1971.
"Not even a single person has family here," Corona told a prison psychologist before his parole was last denied in 2003. "They were all ready to go to the next world."
Corona, a farm labor contractor with a history of mental illness, was convicted of stabbing the men, hacking open their heads and burying their remains near Yuba City, 40 miles north of Sacramento.
His attorney, Leon Harris III of Bakersfield, declined to comment before the hearing.
Assortment of weapons
His first conviction in 1973 was overturned on appeal, but he was convicted again in 1982 and sentenced to 25 concurrent life sentences. He was not eligible for the death penalty because California's capital punishment law had been ruled unconstitutional at the time.
It was the worst known killing spree in U.S. history, until John Wayne Gacy Jr. was convicted in 1980 of murdering 33 young men and boys in his Chicago home. Gacy was executed in 1994 in Illinois.
Investigators found a machete, a meat cleaver, a double-bladed ax and a wooden club, all stained with blood, in Corona's home, along with a ledger book containing the names of seven of the victims.
Most of his victims were white, though several were black or Native American. There was no known racial motivation for his crimes, Adams said.
Corona, a Mexican national and native of Jalisco, Mexico, has maintained his innocence, though at earlier parole hearings he acted confused and told the parole board he didn't recall much. His attorneys have argued that his mental and physical condition makes him less dangerous.
Adams said his deterioration makes him a greater threat to himself and others.
"He is unreliably dangerous. He's also old and not in a condition where he can do well on the streets without prison supervision," Adams said. "Releasing him into the public wouldn't be doing him any good or the public any good."
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Leave a Comment:
More reason for the death penalty!
Maybe the Lockerbie bomber is looking for a roommate.
I hear he is feeling much better.
If he has dementia, he won't know if he's in prison or not and mental health issues duh, he killed over 25 people!!!. Let him rot in prison
This guy is a Mexican ! He should be treated like they treat Mexicans in there prisons ! If we did this this guy wouldn't even be up for parole after 40 years he would not have made it 40 years ! 77 and still alive after all this @!$%#er did ? WOW ! there is a place in hell for you sick freak !
Mexico does not have the death penalty or even life without the possibility of parole. Not that you have been educated, try to act just a bit smarter. Shouldn't be too hard.
He LOOKS OK. As a self-interested, self-involved, me-ist from California, just don't let him go in my srea.
There is no reason for this man to ever see the outside of prison walls
You know what I think? I think it is a social abuse that good honest, law-abiding people have to continually read about convicts like this serial killer, Hinckley (and many many others) being considered for parole. Yea I read: "they have to go through the motions" well thats true and a valid point but still does nothing to bolster my opinion of our penal (legal) system. To read that Hinckley gets unsupervised visits to mommy after trying to kill our president, and permenantly injuring others is mind boggling! No wonder CA was voted (hands down) the worst run state in America. Its down right "socially" criminal to the members of society that we should have to "consider" parole for this piece of dog sh#t.
How is this even possible for a 7th time? Serial killers can be paroled? What a crazy world we live in!
It's seem that the time this man has spent in prison is what I consider a pat on the back and I am not saying this to condemn the system, it's all we got and without the effort of those who took him out of society, this man would have probbly continued his killing spree?
Being put back into society to be taken care of as if he is someone of importance, will be considered a slap in the face of those dedicated law enforcer who went through the horror of investigating and apprehending this cold blooded murderer!
WHY? He should have been executed when he was convicted. Good Lord, 25 vicious murders. I am from California and I do not understand why the "elected" people ion charge continue to keep these rabid animals alive.
In around 1989, Richard Wade Farley murdered 7 people and "tortured" (wounded) 4. he received the death sentence. A lot of good that did, he is still alive and wasting space and money that should be better used elsewhere.
Now we have that other rabid animal that murdered several people in Seal Beach, Ca. They will most likely keep him him alive and a danger to anyone around him taking up more space and money that should be better used elsewhere also.
There are people so vile that they need to be put to death to protect anyone they come in contact with in or out of prison. A few years ago an officer was murdered at the prison in Lompoc, CA., by a prisoner. This happens far to often.
Sure give him parole, that is the way that California help with over population....Right? If he'd have killed someone important he'd already have been in the gas chamber and buried.
This is how they keep over crowding down in the prisons of California. They'll be checking on parole for Charlie Manson too.
Only you a**holes outside California are the ones complaining about California. If you don't like California than stay in your constapated State and never mind what we're doing here. None of your concern.
I don't care if he's is a monster. But if he does get released, I think we should send him off to the first person that says "Only in California" .
I am from California and I tell people that California is controlled by 6 cities and the rest of us are screwed. The only thing left in California that I moved here for (50 years ago) is the weather and what is left of the wide open spaces. The population has tripled and people are destroying everything in sight.
I totally understand why people call us the Police State of Mexifornia. California is rated nationally as the worst run state in the nation. I would move, but, I can't afford to.
All of us from outside of California are sick and tired of that state telling us that they know what is best for us. The one state that has more wrong with it then most of the other.....right? Just let the criminals go and they leave there and get out of there as fast as they can. And go somewhere else and kill someone.
Larry Except for the 6 cities controlling Calif. the rest of us are tired of the state telling us what is best for us. If you look at the demographics of California's political parties, you will see that the majority of the state is red, Republican. The problem is, the city populations out number us and is controlled by people who vote for a living instead of people who work for a living.
Obviously, something is very wrong with our justice system! The truth is that it does not care about the tax payers who pay all of their salaries! The fact is that the State doesn't want to pay for the prisoner's health care, which is why they should have shoot him in the head to start with!
I hope he gets a job with the border patrol... He doesn't seem to be a threat to society, at least to anyone who matters...
He's nuts. Keep him in jail. He can't have many years left anyway.
"His attorneys have argued that his mental and physical condition makes him less dangerous." They might be right too. He can probably only kill women and children now. Only an attorney would say something that stupid in defense of a murderer. He far too old and feeble now to kill 25 people, he'd be so tired after just 2 or 3...right?
I have to laugh, reading these comments, after reading a comment on Yahoo. It was something along the line of the fact that, most of those condemning this man wouldn't have given a dime to any of his victims, if they were asking for spare change on the street.
Nice to know you can kill as many people as you want, then the state will give you a free room, free meals, free medical and dental. I love this country, I just hate the people who run it.
"Not even a single person has family here," Corona told a prison psychologist before his parole was last denied in 2003. "They were all ready to go to the next world."
Corona is a sick bastard if he believes this! They may have been ready, but this sicko didnt have to put them in the express lane. The only thing that pisses me off more than him being up for parole is knowing that my tax dollars go to house and feed this monstrosity!!
This guy has as much chance getting out of prison as the Indianapolis Colts have of winning this year's Super Bowl.
Send him back to his homeland to finish out his days, if it was good for the Lockerbie terrorist certainly it should be a good solution for one illegal alien with serious health issues and increasing medical costs.
If I ever see this man on my property, he's a dead man.
Why does California so readily release criminals? Shortened sentences and release of murderers when they are clearly dangerous? I don't get it.
Neither do we Californians.
This stuff happens all of the time.Usually they are always denied parole though
if he was taken the gas chamber, no one would be having a moral dilema about his release at this time. so he killed 25 people and only got 20 years. so he basically got less than 1 year for each victim.
boy! with that kind of penalty, its no wonder people arent hunting down the enemies to give them a taste of personal justice.