"8,010 Pages of Discovery": The "Grim Sleeper" Suspect Pleads Not Guilty, AP Courtroom Footage, 2010

Name: "8,010 Pages of Discovery": The "Grim Sleeper" Suspect Pleads Not Guilty, AP Courtroom Footage, 2010
Uploaded: 2010-08-24T00:00:00Z
Duration: 1 min 18 s
Description: AP footage of Lonnie Franklin Jr. in Los Angeles County Superior Court on August 23, 2010, as his attorney entered not-guilty pleas to ten murders and one attempted murder. Franklin is seen but not heard.

AP footage of Lonnie Franklin Jr. in Los Angeles County Superior Court on August 23, 2010, as his attorney entered not-guilty pleas to ten murders and one attempted murder. Franklin is seen but not heard.

Subject: Lonnie Franklin
Recorded: about August 23, 2010
Runtime: 1:18

Content warning: Refers to the murders of ten people. No graphic detail.

The Interview

This is not an interview with Lonnie Franklin Jr., who is not heard. It is a 78-second Associated Press news report, narrated by AP's John Mone, from Los Angeles County Superior Court on August 23, 2010. It shows Franklin standing before the judge in an orange jumpsuit, his hands shackled to his waist, as he pleaded not guilty. His attorney, Louisa Pensanti, speaks about the evidence she had received and about Franklin's family. AP reported that Franklin spoke only to answer procedural questions; no words of his are picked up in this video.

Historical Context

Franklin, then 57, had been arrested on July 7, 2010, after a familial DNA search led detectives to him. He was charged with the murders of nine women and a 15-year-old girl in South Los Angeles between 1985 and 2007, and with the attempted murder of a woman who survived being shot in 1988.

Circumstances

At his first court appearance, on July 8, 2010, he was represented by Regina A. Laughney. By August he was represented by Louisa Pensanti, a private attorney working free of charge, who entered pleas of not guilty to all counts on August 23. Prosecutors had not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty, and the next court date was set for September 14.

What the Recording Covers

The narrator reports the pleas and describes Franklin in court. Pensanti says she had been handed "a disc containing 8,010 pages of discovery" two weeks earlier and was told she would receive much more. The narrator summarizes the case: DNA evidence, killings from 1985 to 1988 and from 2002 to 2007, the 14-year pause behind the nickname, and murders within a few miles of Franklin's home. Pensanti says Franklin was "very concerned about his family, and his family is very concerned about him."

What Makes the Recording Significant

The attorney's figure of more than 8,000 pages of discovery gives a sense of the scale of the investigation.

Archival Importance

Original AP footage on AP's own channel.

Important Caveats

Franklin is seen but not heard; any procedural answer he gave is not picked up by the machine transcription or the captions (a listening pass should confirm). Pensanti is not named in the audio; she is identified from AP's written report of the hearing. Whether her remarks were made in court or outside is not clear. The uploader's "murdering 10 women" should be read as nine women and a 15-year-old girl. The narration's "14-year pause" is the gap between the charged killings of 1988 and 2002; a 2000 killing, never charged, was attributed to him by prosecutors only in the 2016 penalty phase.

Narrator: Lonnie David Franklin Jr., the suspect in the Grim Sleeper serial killer case, pleaded not guilty to 10 charges of murder and one of attempted murder. His attorney entered the pleas. Franklin spoke only to procedural questions in the L.A. County Superior Court. Donning an orange jumpsuit, the 57-year-old stood before a judge with his hands shackled to his waist. His attorney [unclear: "said" / "says"] she'll have to research mountains of documents.

Louisa Pensanti: Well, I was handed, uh, two weeks ago a disc containing 8,010 pages of discovery, and I was told today that I would be receiving much more.

Narrator: Police arrested Franklin in July in connection with the 10 murders. Investigators say DNA evidence linked him to the crimes. He's accused of killing the women from 1985 to 1988, and then from 2002 to 2007. The 14-year pause led to the nickname Grim Sleeper. All of the murders happened within a few miles of Franklin's home in South Los Angeles. His lawyer, who's representing the retired auto mechanic free of charge, says she's still getting to know her client.

Louisa Pensanti: He's very concerned about his family, and his family is very concerned about him.

Narrator: Franklin is due back in court mid-September. John Mone, the Associated Press, Los Angeles. [Speech ends at about 01:17; clip ends at 01:18.] ---