USA - California. Benjamin Wayne Watta, 63, black, was sentenced to death

Benjamin Wayne Watta, 63, black, was sentenced to death for the Dec. 23, 1980 rape and murder of Simone Sharpe, 70. Superior Court Judge James A. Stotler handed down the sentence. An Orange County jury had recommended on July 2, 2008 that Watta be put to death in part due to the severity of the Sharpe murder and because Watta had committed numerous other crimes including several other assaults on women. Watta was first identified in the Sharpe case in 2001 when his DNA matched crime scene evidence that had been submitted by cold-case detectives to a national database.