DEATH ON HOLD
Hollywood Ripper sentencing is delayed
The serial killer dubbed the “Hollywood Ripper” sported a new mustache and smug demeanor in court Friday as a judge postponed his expected death sentence amid defense claims he deserves a new trial.
Michael Gargiulo, 44, was due to be sentenced in Los Angeles for murdering 22year-old fashion student Ashley Ellerin in 2001 and 32-yearold mother of four Maria Bruno in 2005.
Gargiulo stabbed Ellerin 47 times the same night she was due to go on a date with actor Ashton Kutcher, a jury of six women and six women heard last year before finding him guilty.
Defense lawyers now claim the trial was flawed because prosecutors failed to turn over evidence the defense would have used to question the credibility of key witness Mark Lillienfeld, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department homicide detective who worked the case before his retirement in 2016.
They pointed to a Los Angeles Times investigation last October that revealed Lillienfeld was temporarily banned from Men’s Central Jail in 2018 after he dressed as an active duty deputy to gain entry and allegedly left behind a bag of “contraband.”
Video of the incident published by The Times shows Lillienfeld moving through security in a tan and green deputy uniform and depositing the bag and a coffee cup in an inmate chapel.
An inmate spotted the bag hours later and stuffed its contents in his pants pocket, according to the video. The inmate later told investigators the bag contained an Egg McMuffin, the newspaper said.
Attempts to reach Lillienfeld, who was working as a DA investigator on a separate murder investigation at the time of the jail incident, were not successful Friday.
Gargiulo’s defense lawyer Dale Rubin said he wants a copy of the 11-page Sheriff’s Department memo describing the McMuffin incident so he can use use it in a motion for a new trial.
“He was a lead investigator on this case,” Rubin told the
Daily News Friday. “What we’re talking about now would have attacked his credibility as a witness. That’s what this is all about.”
Judge Larry Fiddler ordered the parties back to court March 13 and said the defense should be able to get a copy of the memo with minimal redaction.
“Mr. Gargiulo, is all this agreeable to you?” the judge asked.
“Yes, sir,” Gargiulo responded after spending part of the hearing shaking his head and scoffing as his lawyer blasted law enforcement for what he deemed a “due process violation.”
Deputy DA Daniel Akemon declined to comment as he left the hearing Friday.
Beyond the murders of Ellerin and Bruno, Gargiulo also was convicted of attempting to kill a third woman who survived his signature stabbing attack by waging a bloodsoaked struggle.
Michelle Murphy was alone in her Santa Monica apartment in April 2008 when Gargiulo, an air-conditioning repairman, climbed through her window and stabbed her eight times.
Murphy’s fierce fight caused Gargiulo to cut himself with the blade. Injured and bleeding, Gargiulo yelled “Sorry” as he ran out her door, leaving a trail of blood that would lead to his arrest, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors dubbed Gargiulo the “Boy Next Door Killer” because he lived near all his victims and stalked them before his grisly attacks.
Kutcher testified last May during the first phase of the trial, saying he arrived at Ellerin’s Hollywood Hills residence around 10:30 the night of their date and received no answer.
“I noticed all the lights were on, so I assumed she was home. I knocked on the door. There was no answer. I knocked again, again no answer. I kind of looked through the window on the front door,” he said.
An actor on the Fox sitcom “That ’70s Show” at the time, Kutcher yelled for Ellerin, attempted to open her locked door and looked in a large window, he said.
Kutcher said he eventually gave up, thinking Ellerin had “bailed” on their date because he was late.