Jury recommends death for SoCal gang member

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A Los Angeles jury has recommended death for a gang member convicted of four murders.

Ralph Steven Flores got the verdict Tuesday and a judge will sentence him June 2.

His attorney, Pierpont Laidley, said he believed recent high-profile killings have created "hysteria against gangs" which influenced the jury.

But prosecutor Michele Hanisee portrayed Flores as a callous man who enjoyed killing people.

Flores was convicted earlier this month of first-degree murder with special circumstances for killing a 16-year-old boy and three other men and women between 1999 and late 2004. One victim was shot outside a Christmas party. Another was beaten and strangled.


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