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By Rich McKay
(Reuters) – A California judge sentenced a man dubbed the “Hollywood Ripper” to death on Friday for the home invasion murders of two women in the early 2000s, one of whom was about to date actor Ashton Kutcher.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler sentenced Michael Thomas Gargiulo, a 45-year-old former handyman, air conditioner repairer and aspiring actor, who has also been dubbed the ” Boy Next Door Killer “and the” Chiller Killer “. “by the media.
Gargiulo’s lawyers did not immediately return the appeals to Reuters on Saturday. But Gargiulo maintained his innocence throughout the trial.
He spoke briefly to the court before his conviction and complained that his lawyers should have let him testify, media outlets including the Los Angeles Times reported.
“I’m going on death row right and wrong,” The Times and other media reported.
But Judge Fidler replied in court during the televised conviction that: “Wherever Mr. Gargiulo went, death and destruction followed him.
Gargiulo had previously been convicted of the 2001 murder of 22-year-old fashion design student Ashley Ellerin, who was murdered in her Hollywood home while preparing to date Kutcher.
Kutcher, the former star of the “Two and a Half Men” and “That ’70s Show” television shows, told the 2019 trial that he was late for the date and that Ellerin did not have opened the door.
He also told the court that when he looked out the window he saw bloodstains but thought it was red wine spilled on the floor.
Gargiulo was also convicted of the stabbing murder of Maria Bruno, 32, who was Gargiulo’s neighbor in El Monte, Calif., In 2005. He was arrested in 2008 when another victim, Michelle Murphy , then 26, pushed her away and survived the attack inside her. The Santa Monica, Calif., Home showed the lawsuit.
Gargiulo was convicted of attempted murder in the Murphy case and is wanted in a homicide case in Illinois.
(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; editing by Diane Craft)
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