Ford's separation from his son was one of the factors that set off a chain reaction that ended with Ford sitting in a capacity-filled courtroom Friday. Judge Michael A. Smith talked about Ford and his son as he waded through the evidence against the 45-year-old Arcata man, tackled the latest motions in the case, then paused for a short break before
"You are to be put to death by lethal injection or some other procedure deemed proper," Smith told Ford. Ford looked around him as photographers began snapping shots, the staccato burst of their high-speed shutters filling the courtroom. The emotion of the moment seemed to overwhelm the father of one of Ford's victims.
Bill White, whose daughter, Lanett Deyon White, died at Ford's hands, yelped as the judge pronounced sentence. "I would like to see him hang," said White, a slim graying Ontario man who told a group of reporters outside court that he believed justice had been served. The sentencing came nine months after a San Bernardino County jury determined Ford should die for the brutal, sex-laced deaths of four young women in 1997 and 1998.
The jury convicted Ford on June 27 of four counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Lanett White, 25, of Fontana; Patricia Ann Tamez, 29, of Hesperia; Tina Renee Gibbs, 26, of Las Vegas; and an unidentified woman whose torso was discovered in a slough near Eureka. Ford turned himself into authorities in Humboldt County on Nov. 3, 1999, at the urging of his brother, and confessed to the women's deaths.
In his jacket pocket, he carried a woman's severed breast in a plastic bag. None of Ford's family members, most of whom live in Northern California, attended the sentencing. Ford was tried in San Bernardino County after prosecutors succeeded in consolidating the four murders into one case using a so-called serial-killer law that went into effect two months after Ford turned himself in.
Ford didn't know the women he killed, according to earlier court testimony. They died while having violent sex with Ford, who bound his victims before choking them and dumping them near bodies of water throughout the state. Ford dismembered some of the women.
In a statement to the Probation Department, made public Friday, Ford said he was sorry the women died but that he was not to blame. Ford told probation officers that, if anything, he was "guilty of four counts of accidental death," according to the statement. He insisted that none of the victims was tortured.
"There was no struggling and no pain inflicted upon the victims," Ford told probation officers. "All acts and activities were consensual. Anything that might have appeared to be painful or torturous was done postmortem.
" Ford said he only intended to intensify the victims' pleasure during sex by choking them. He did not intend to harm or kill any of the victims, and said he was saddened by each death, according to the probation report. "Most serial killers are proud of their work - not me," Ford told probation officers.
Ford became known as a killer with a conscience, and Smith said Friday that Ford seemed genuinely remorseful. But that was outweighed by the fact that Ford continued killing. Deputy Public Defender Joseph Canty, who represented Ford, said after the sentencing he appreciated that Smith appeared to recognize Ford's remorse and appeared to struggle with the defendant's decision to turn himself in at a time when authorities had no suspects for the murders.
But the judge's hands were tied, he said. "He couldn't redecide the case for the jury," he said. "He could only decide whether there was enough evidence to support the verdicts.
" Smith on Friday denied a defense motion for a new trial, despite Canty's attempts to show that jury-selection procedures were faulty, a prosecutor made prejudicial statements and psychological reports used in case were inconsistent. During trial, Canty and his co-counsel Steven Mapes, pointed to Ford's psychological problems and the mental and physical abuse he suffered as reasons to spare his life. Canty and Mapes asked jurors then to put themselves in Ford's shoes, imagine the rough childhood he endured, the failed relationships, the difficult divorce from his second wife and the few chances he had to spend time with his son.
Deputy District Attorney Michael McDowell, who took over the case after former prosecutor David Mazurek was named a Superior Court judge, said Friday that Ford's sentencing is not the final chapter in the story. Ford is expected to be transferred to San Quentin State Prison, where he will join 36 other convicted killers who have been condemned in San Bernardino County. Ford will be granted an automatic appeal of his conviction, which could last many, many years, McDowell said.
"It's more likely Mr. Ford would die of natural causes on death row before he would be executed," McDowell said. But for Bill White, the news Friday was still a victory.
Wearing a pair of silver sunglasses to match his salt-and-pepper hair, White recalled more pleasant thoughts about his daughter. She loved her family, karate, fishing and camping. "I remember her the way she was," White said, "happy and free-spirited.
" Oct. 14, 1997: Authorities say Ford picked up his first victim, identified only as Jane Doe. She was estimated to be 18 to 25 years old and had given birth.
Oct. 26, 1997: A human torso, later determined to belong to victim No. 1, is found in a slough at the end of Park Street in Eureka in Humboldt County.
May 1998: Authorities say he picked up his second victim, Tina Renee Gibbs, reportedly a Las Vegas prostitute. June 2, 1998: Gibbs' naked body is found in the California Aqueduct, near the town of Buttonwillow in Kern County. An autopsy determined the victim died of strangulation.
September 1998: Authorities say he picked up his third victim, Lanett Deyon White, 25, of Fontana, near an Ontario truck stop. Ford told detectives he paid her for sex, during which she died. Sept.
25, 1998: White's naked body is found in an irrigation canal near Lodi in San Joaquin County. October 1998: Authorities say he picked up his fourth victim, Patricia Anne Tamez, 29, of Hesperia, by a convenience store. Ford told detectives he paid her for sex, during which she died.
Oct. 23, 1998: Tamez's naked body is found in the California Aqueduct near Hesperia. Nov.
2, 1998: Ford reportedly calls his brother, Rodney Calvin Ford, for help. Nov. 3, 1998: Ford walks into the Humboldt County sheriff's station with his brother and tells deputies he had done "bad things.
" Over the next few days, Ford reportedly tells detectives about the four dead victims. July 27, 2000: A criminal complaint is filed by the District Attorney's Office alleging first-degree murder in four counts and special circumstances for multiple murders. March 13, 2006: Prosecutors begin laying out the evidence against Ford as trial testimony begins in San Bernardino Superior Court.
June 27, 2006: A jury finds Ford guilty on all counts and allegations in the criminal complaint. July 12, 2006: Proceedings begin for the penalty phase of the criminal trial. Aug.
10, 2006: A jury finds the appropriate penalty for Ford to be death. March 16, 2007: Judge Michael A. Smith sentences Ford to death by lethal injection.
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