Grim Sleeper suspect's attorney criticizes LAPD for releasing photos of women [Updated]

The attorney for Grim Sleeper serial killer suspect Lonnie Franklin Jr. criticized Los Angeles police for releasing scores of photos of women found in Franklin's possession.

In a statement, Louisa Pensanti complained that the photos were not part of discovery in Frankin's case and that some of the images were of Franklin's family and friends.

"The photographs include members and friends of the Franklin family, all now subject to the intense scrutiny of the public as well as the police," she wrote.

An LAPD source told The Times that detectives had asked Franklin's family to review the photos before they were publicly released so that ones of his family and friends could be removed. But the source said officials got not no reply to their requests. It's unclear whether Pensanti has now asked that any photos specifically be removed.

The LAPD was inundated with hundreds of phone calls, e-mails and other tips a day after detectives released photographs of the unidentified women found in a trailer belonging to Franklin, who has pleaded not guilty to 10 killings in South L.A.

"The information coming in is voluminous," said Det. Dennis Kilcoyne, who headed the task force that searched for the killer. Officers, he said, have fielded "hundreds upon hundreds" of phone calls, as well as e-mails and text messages that flooded in through various hotlines and online accounts the department uses.

When Franklin, who is accused of sexually assaulting and murdering 10 African American women in South L.A., was arrested in July, authorities found a disturbing trove of about 1,000 photographs and hundreds of hours of video of women. Some of the images appeared to be innocent snapshots, but most showed the women in various states of undress and striking sexual poses.

Fearing that some of the women could be additional victims, detectives set out to identify them. Some of the material dated back to the 1980s and included video and digital camera images, Polaroids, conventional prints and even undeveloped film. The LAPD estimates that it is trying to identify about 160 people.

In her statement, Pensanti took issue with some comments made by public officials at the press conference releasing the photos. She was not specific but said: "The comments concluding guilt made by public officials during the press conference appear to be a deliberate tainting of public opinion and the jury pool."

The statement continued: "Sadly, the public officials who have the Duty to uphold the Constitution have forgotten the basics in their desire for sensationalism and are jeopardizing Lonnie Franklin's chance for a fair trial."

[Updated at 10:43 a.m.: LAPD officials said the decision to release the photos was not made lightly. Detectives said they were concerned about how the images should be presented to the public given the explicit nature of the material, and understood that the photo release could force the women to revisit encounters with Franklin from periods in their lives they would rather forget.

In the end, the LAPD opted to release closely cropped versions of the images that show the women's faces. Detectives also wanted to be sensitive to the families of the 10 women Franklin is alleged to have killed. Before the announcement, they invited members of the victims' families to LAPD headquarters to view the images that would be released.

Kilcoyne acknowledged that some might be offended by the decision to go public with the pictures and video stills. In the end, though, the need to know the fate of the women and how Franklin had come to collect the images outweighed the potential embarrassment to the women. For similar reasons, The Times has published the images.

"We are just trying to do what is right and decent," Kilcoyne said. "We are very cognizant of not causing embarrassment or anguish to the people depicted in the photographs."]

RELATED

LAPD gets hundreds of calls in 'Grim Sleeper' case

Releasing Grim Sleeper photos was agonzing decision

PHOTOS: Images found in possession of Grim Sleeper suspect

Homicide Report: Grim Sleeper case

--Andrew Blankstein

Comments

[Bob Johnson]

What a joke this CA judicial system is. Here we have one of a thousand serial killers who viciously murdered countless women and everyone knows he did it and the police have proven it. Instead of falling all over the place to protect his rights, none of which he afforded to any of his victims, let's just take him outside and put a bullet in his head. CA is state full of whining, moaning hypocrites - moral cowards tripping all over themselves in the chaos of indifference and apathy to avoid punishing depraved murderers amongst us with swift public executions. Its time to shut up or put up.

[Coriolana]

Um...Bob? Did you forget about due process? Thank goodness that happens to take precedence over emotionalizing.

[Mufon]

...the Duty to uphold the Constitution have forgotten the basics in their desire for sensationalism..."

Thank heaven that defense attorneys and plaintiff attorneys never do that!

[mikeohara]

Yeah, because innocent people have hundreds of photos of hookers and addicts passed out in a car, van, or basement. The only question in this case is how many murders he committed.

[richard]

forget his rights man its a rap for this sick dude d.n.a dont lie

[stewart]

Perhaps Mr Franklin would not mind if The People of Los Angeles are informed of what has been going for quite some time where lives may have been taken and the informed community is made a safer one by the release of these images instead?

[magistra]

Hey, Bob - it's so great to hear from a REAL American who loves his country and the Constitution - you remember the Constitution, don't you? The founding document, with that pesky Bill of Rights thingy appended . . .

[James Brown Lord]

I for one have not until now heard of the grim sleeper, so the statement that his chances of a fair trial are slim or nil. The people the state is charged with protecting the rights of all the people not just the accused. And they have asked only if anyone can identify the peoples in the pictures. Some I have noted have cried foul and have attempted the use of the race card with the many if only that entaills; I would point to Ted Bundy and others like him and the many unsolved in those cases. I will ask this what if the LA PD had said we suspect an African American as being the chief suspect? would we here racism being chanted? The real question is not race it is that many many beautiful women are missing and this man has information of one form or anther and the police in order to find out who and where they may be must use all available out-lets at their disposale. so is racism or a race to identify possible victims and bring to an end many years of wondering for familys and friends.

[SIN DESTROYS]

If this criminal would not have committed sin, then his family would not be getting shamed.....Let his family come out publicly and refuse him as a family member for bringing shame to his family.....i would exile one of my family members if they committed such sin

[Ricardo D]

I think the defense attorney in this case is in the wrong when it comes to her argument. The defendant in this case is suspected of being a serial killer. And if there is any of information which is the public can use to identify potential victims its in the best interest of law enforcement to release documents or photos. This man was identified through DNA as being a suspect in 10 murders of women and if you find now hundreds of photos of unidentifiable women why shouldn't the LAPD or any law enforcement agency make those photos available to the public. It could the daughter or granddaughter of someone who has been missing for years and could have been killed by this man who knows. Sorry but this is a very sick and cold blooded individual and he could have possibly killed more women not just in the South Los Angeles area but around the country depending upon where he traveled in the past 30 years.

[Regan DuCasse]

If it's true what Franklin's attorney is saying, then Franklin either would have kept them separate, or his family would have participated in separating them.

But they didn't. It's on THEM, not the police. The police ARE obligated to organize the MESS that Franklin made. It's obvious that Frankin has much evidence of taking pictures of women he's NOT related to, in various compromising states that raise suspicions AGAINST his innocence. The police have to find out who these women are, if they are alive or can be accounted for.
This was the ONLY way.
If Franklin's attorney was the least bit concerned with THE TRUTH, then she'd consider this a vital avenue to determining innocence of MORE victims too.
Oh, and by the way an awful lot of people think a defense attorney's job is to 'get their client off'. Their clients tend to think so too.
The attorney's job is to make sure their client is fully informed of their rights, and that those rights are protected. There isn't a long list of those rights either. They are pretty streamlined and simple.
The evidence connecting Franklin to the victims is strong. Doesn't look good for him having photos like this all over the place, and it's typical of serial killers to keep trophies. He fits the profile alright.

[Art]

Scumbag lawyers. He'd be screaming if the LAPD did not run down every possible investigative lead. He's got to put on a show for the $500 per hour he'll be collecting to defend this loon.

[Eva]

Well, scrutinize the background of these photos and if the photos with the victims has the same background as the photo of a family member... one more piece of solid evidence. A lot of these photos have the same van (passenger seat), women appear to be dead or unconscious in the same car passenger seat. A few are sitting in front of the same curtains in a home. Same van with paper and taped up windows, etc.
P.S. I agree with Bob Johnson...

[Melissa]

What the LAPD is doing by releasing these unidentified pictures, is not only reasonable, but necessary. The suspect in this case, is not a "presumed" serial killer, he IS a serial killer. How many families are still wondering what happened to their daughters, mothers, friends & sisters? This photo release is necessary and humane!

[FMPu]

Will the real Grim Sleeper please stand up, please stand up, please stand up.

[u know]

@Coriolana and magistra

So sad that bleeding heart liberals like yourselves are so much more concerned with the rights of a vicous killer like Franklin than you are about the rights of the unknown many victims and families in this horrific case. Don't fret though, since you voted Kamala Harris into office your friend Lonnie Franklin Jr won't be facing the death penalty. Perhaps you could write him letters for the next several decades he is in prison, we the tax payers will pick up the tab on the postage.

[craig raines]

Why would the LAPD risk jepordizing this case by release the photos of these girls. I mean the old saying one in the hand beats two in the bush really rings true here.

[THOUGHTPOLICE]

I WAS IN SANTA CRUZ'S HENRY COWELL PARK @ THE SAME TIME WHEN ANOTHER SERIAL KILLER, DAVID JOSEPH CARPENTER WAS ON HIS SPREE IN THE LATE 70'S EARLY 80'S. HE HAD A RAP SHEET THAT STARTED WHEN HE WAS IN ELEMENTRY SCHOOL. ON THIS PARTICULAR DAY, HE KILLED ONE YOUNG LADY AND SHOT HER BOYFRIEND IN THE NECK IN AN ATTEMPTED RAPE CRIME. HE WAS EVENTUALLY PUT ON TRIAL IN SAN DIEGO (CHANGE OF VENUE), AND CONVICTED IN 1986. HE'S STILL ON DEATH ROW. WE SHOULD CALL IT DIE OF NATURAL DEATH ROW, AS THIS GUY WILL FOR SURE DIE IN PRISON NATURALLY.....

[Perry Yoshida]

Louisa Pensanti too bad one of your family members wasn't a victim but maybe theres hope if your killer is innocent

[THOUGHTPOLICE]

San Francisco police said today that DNA from death row inmate David Joseph Carpenter, known as the “Trailside Killer,” matches evidence collected at the scene of an unsolved murder in San Francisco in 1979.Carpenter, now 79, is awaiting execution at San Quentin State Prison for seven other murders in Marin and Santa Cruz counties in the early 1980s. ANOTHER CRIME SOLVED JUST THIS YEAR..

[Skadi]

Of COURSE his attorney is going to complain...it makes her job even harder. She could complain that the LAPD unfairly did their job and arrested her client...even though he's innocent. Oh the tragedy!

Not really. The LAPD has a responsibility to the potential victims families to help give them closure on their missing loved one by identifying as many woman in photographs as possible. Just like the Green River Killer, we will probably never know the full scale of how many women he's killed, but at least this is a start.

[Tony Won]

some of the photos clearly show women who are dead... the greater good of getting each photo identified as a person who is alive or possible missing/dead is essential to justice... this has nothing to do with the current case of 10 murders and the grim sleeper's defense attorney is talking out his buttocks. any newly discovered murders are additional reasons to execute this grotesque excuse for a low life piece of crap that's inside a human body without a soul.

[Coriolana]

Did I said a thing about whether or not I consider the release of the photos wasn't a necessary move on the police? I simply reminded him that our legal system involves due process. That means one cannot, as Bob suggests 'take him outside and put a bullet in his head'. It isn't whining or moaning or hypocrisy to go to trial. Nor it is wrong for a defense atty to attempt to defend his client to the best of his ability. That's what legal representation means. I am by no means a 'bleeding heart liberal' nor am I 'more concerned' with his rights than the victims'. I happen to prefer our system of laws to the snap judgments of a lynch mob.

[TheBigPicture]

That's right, this serial killer has rights...

[LAKERZ4LYFE]

OH PLEASE WHAT A JOKE THE MAN IS AN EVIL NUTCASE JUST ACCEPT IT AND MOVE ON I DONT SEE WHY ANYONE WOULD WANT TO STEP TO THE FOREFRONT AND EVEN DEFEND THIS MAN HE SHOULD BE DROPPED OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN SOMEWHERE AND FED TO THE SHARKS IN SANTA BARBRA ITS EVEN SHOCKING HOW THEY ARE JUST COVERING THIS STORY NOW BUT THEN AGAIN THIS IS AMERICA WE DONT CARE ABOUT POOR BLACK PEOPLE LIVING IN THE HOOD AND WE SURE DONT WANT TO GIVE JUSTICE TO BLACK FAMALIES NOR BLACK WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES JUST SICKENING LET THEM SEE ALL THE PHOTOS THAT THIS MAN HAS KILLED SHOW THEM ALL SO THAT THE PUBLIC CAN SEE HOW SICK AND HOW DEMENTED THIS MAN IS HES SICK HES EVIL HES CRIMINAL BOTTOMLINE