USA - California. Judge William R. Pounders sentenced James Heard to death

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders sentenced James Heard to death. Heard, 58, killed 11-year-old Katrina Brown in December 1990 while her mother was at work. Heard later said he could not remember the slaying because he had been drinking alcohol and smoking crack for more than a day. But investigators tied him to the crime after recovering a part of his tongue that Katrina had bit off. Judge Pounders accepted a June 8 (see) jury's recommendation that Heard receive the death penalty. It is his 2nd death penalty sentence; the California Supreme Court overturned the first on Aug. 28, 2003 (see) because of a "seriously deficient examination of a prospective juror during the jury selection process."