Closing arguments got underway Wednesday in the murder trial of Randy Santos, who is accused of bludgeoning four homeless men to death with a metal bar in Chinatown in October 2019.
Twelve jurors will now weigh the fate of Santos, 31, who has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Florencio Moran, Nazario Vásquez Villegas, Anthony Manson and Chuen Kwok.
He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
What You Need To Know
Randy Santos is accused of killing four homeless men in Chinatown in October 2019
He has pleaded not guilty and is asserting an insanity defense
Defense attorneys say Santos has schizophrenia and was hearing voices telling him to kill
Prosecutors argue Santos knew the attacks were illegal and morally wrong and are seeking a murder conviction
Prosecutors say Santos went on a rampage through Chinatown, attacking homeless men as they slept. In addition to the four fatal attacks, he faces attempted murder charges for assaults that left two other men severely injured.
Over several weeks of testimony, attorneys from the Legal Aid Society argued that Santos had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was hearing voices in his head at the time of the attacks telling him he needed to kill 40 people or he would die too.
His lawyers contend he is not criminally responsible because of his mental illness.
In closing arguments, his attorney highlighted evidence pointing to symptoms of psychosis and schizophrenia that Santos exhibited during interrogations, including disorganized speech.
“Because of his mental illness he lacked the capacity to understand the moral wrongfulness of his conduct,” his attorney told jurors.
A clinical forensic psychologist, Dr. Virginia Barber-Rioja, testified that while Santos knew he was killing the victims, his “irrational thinking made it impossible for him to understand the difference between what was right or wrong.”
Santos’ brother, Anthony Fernandez, also testified that Santos asked him for a knife the night of the attacks and described a “heavy feeling and dark energy I’ve never ever felt being around my brother” that night.
Fernandez said he gave his brother a butter knife because it was blunt and told jurors that Santos said horror movie killers Freddy Kruger and Jason told him to commit the acts.
Prosecutors argued that Santos knew attacking the men was wrong.
Assistant District Attorney Alfred Peterson played for jurors an interrogation video in which Santos said through a translator that he knew what he did was not a good action and that he feared a hero or people in the community would stop him.
“He absolutely knows that what he’s doing is illegal and against the law,” Peterson said. “But more importantly he knows that what he is doing is viewed by the entire community as against commonly held moral principles.”
During closing arguments, Peterson also pulled out the metal bar Santos is accused of using in the attacks and demonstrated how prosecutors say he beat the men, calling it “powerful overwhelming evidence” of Santos guilt.
If jurors accept the insanity defense, Santos could be committed to a psychiatric treatment facility instead of prison. If they reject it, he could face a sentence of life in prison.