USA - California. Judge Francisco Briseno sentenced Jason Balcom, 43, Black, to death

Judge Francisco Briseno sentenced Jason Balcom, 43, Black, to death. On Feb. 28, 2013 (see) an Orange County jury recommended the death penalty for Balcom, a man who'd been serving a 30- to 50-year sentence for rape in Michigan when he was linked to the 1988 rape and murder of a 22-year-old woman, Malinda Gibbons. At the time of the Gibbons murder investigation, there was no national DNA database, but there was in 1999 when the substance on swabs collected from the murder scene were entered. Because of Balcom's later conviction in Michigan, his DNA was taken. In 2004, the database revealed the Gibbons case DNA matched Balcom's.