MARTINEZ, Calif. There’s been a strange development in another high-profile trial underway in the Bay Area.
As jurors were about to begin considering yesterday if convicted murderer Justin Helzer should be sentenced to death, he told the jury — quote — “I want this life to be over…I want to die.”
His lawyers tried to calm him, and the judge scolded Helzer and told him to be quiet.
Helzer’s mother was in the courtroom. She burst into tears. Some jurors also wept, before they were hurried out of the courtroom by the judge.
The 32-year-old Helzer, his older brother, Glenn, and a former roommate were convicted of killing five people during the summer of 2000.
One of their victims was the 22-year-old daughter of blues guitarist Elvin Bishop.