Death penalty no option in California girls’ 1973 killings
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California prosecutor said Wednesday that two men charged with murder in the shotgun slayings of two young girls can’t face the death penalty because it wasn’t an option when the girls were sexually assaulted and killed more than 40 years ago.
The district attorney in Yuba County, California, filed six counts of murder against 65-year-old cousins William Lloyd Harbour and Larry Don Patterson, who both lived near the victims in Olivehurst, California, when they were killed in November 1973.
Harbour pleaded not guilty Wednesday at his arraignment in California, said Deputy District Attorney John Vacek. Patterson was ordered held without bond in Oklahoma.
Patterson said he intends to waive extradition back to California to face charges in the deaths of 12-year-old Valerie Janice Lane and 13-year-old Doris Karen Derryberry, officials said.