A jury recommended the death penalty for convicted killer Lawrence Singleton a day after hearing from a woman he raped and mutilated 20 years ago.
Singleton, 70, showed no emotion as the verdict was read after only an hour of deliberation Wednesday. He was convicted last week of stabbing Roxanne Hayes to death in his home last year. Hayes was a 31-year-old prostitute and mother of three.The jury voted 10-2 in favor of sending Singleton to the electric chair. Only a majority vote is needed and Florida judges usually follow the jury's recommendation. A sentencing hearing was set for March 30.
Singleton first grabbed headlines in 1978 when he picked up a 15-year-old hitchhiker in California, raped her and chopped off her forearms. Mary Vincent, now 35, survived to testify against him then - he was sentenced to 14 years in prison - and now.
"He left me to die," she said.
She survived after walking naked for almost two miles on a remote ranch, holding the remains of her arms up to slow the flow of blood.
Several California towns refused to let Singleton in after he was paroled in 1987.
He was arrested a year ago in Tampa after a house painter walked in and saw him attacking Hayes, who was dead when police arrived.
Singleton, a retired merchant marine, told jurors she had attacked him with a knife and he was trying to grab the weapon when the blade plunged seven times into her body.