Judge sentences 'Grim Sleeper' serial killer to death for Los Angeles murders

LOS ANGELES -- A judge has sentenced a serial killer known as the "Grim Sleeper" to death for 10 Los Angeles murders that spanned decades.

Lonnie Franklin Jr. was sentenced Wednesday for murdering a teenage girl and nine women in a poor section of the city between 1985 and 2007.

The crimes took police years to solve and community members complained detectives didn't give the slayings enough attention because the victims were black and many were prostitutes who used crack cocaine.

Judge Kathleen Kennedy said Wednesday before the sentencing of Lonnie Franklin Jr. that she didn't buy the argument that the death penalty in California is unconstitutional.

Kennedy says there was overwhelming evidence to support the death penalty verdict against Lonnie Franklin Jr.

Five members of the jury that decided he should die for his crime were in Los Angeles County Superior Court for the hearing.

The killer earned his moniker for an apparent hiatus in slayings, though authorities now think he never rested.