Marin County Judge Sentences Joseph Naso, 79, to Death After His Conviction for Killing Four Northern California Women
Judge Andrew Sweet followed the jury's recommendation. Naso, who represented himself, again insisted at the hearing that he was not guilty.
Published
Joseph Naso, 79, was convicted of murdering four Northern California women whose first and last names began with the same letter. On November 22, 2013, a Marin County judge sentenced him to death.
A jury convicted Naso, of Reno, Nevada, on August 20 of killing the four women between 1977 and 1994, and in September it recommended death. Superior Court Judge Andrew Sweet agreed, handing down death sentences for the murders of Tracy Tafoya, Pamela Parsons and Carmen Colon and a sentence of life in prison for the killing of Roxene Roggasch, Bay City News reported. At the hearing, Naso again insisted that he was not guilty and said the evidence against him was inflammatory and political. He had represented himself at trial, and Deputy District Attorney Dori Ahana argued for the death penalty.
Roggasch, 18, and Colon, 22, were killed in the 1970s, and Parsons, 38, and Tafoya, 31, in the 1990s; their bodies were found off rural roads in Marin, Contra Costa and Yuba counties. Prosecutors said evidence found in Naso's home tied him to the murders, including photographs he had taken and a diary, and that his DNA was found on pantyhose on Roggasch's body. Naso remained a suspect in the deaths of at least two other California women. The state's prison system recorded the death sentence as imposed on November 22 and received him on death row four days later. California had not carried out an execution since 2006.
The Independent reported that Naso was sentenced to death for all four murders, while Bay City News said the judge imposed death for three of them and life in prison for the killing of Roxene Roggasch.
Sources
- Condemned Inmate List, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
- Serial Killer Joseph Naso Sentenced to Death Penalty, NBC Bay Area (Bay City News)
- 'Alphabet killer' Joseph Naso sentenced to death for decades-old murders of four women, The Independent
Related News
- August 20, 2013: Marin County Jury Convicts Joseph Naso, 79, of Murdering Four Northern California Women in the 1970s and 1990s