California Supreme Court upholds death for child killer

California's Supreme Court has upheld the death penalty for a mentally ill man who killed and dismembered a 12-year-old boy in Orange County.|
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THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

LOS ANGELES - California's Supreme Court has upheld the death penalty for a mentally ill man who killed and dismembered a 12-year-old boy in Orange County.

John Ghobrial, a one-armed panhandler who'd been diagnosed with serious mental illness, was convicted of strangling Juan Delgado in La Habra in 1998.

Prosecutors said Ghobrial dismembered the boy and put his remains in concrete cylinders he left around the area. They said Ghobrial had been overheard threatening to kill the boy and eat his genitals, which were never found.

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that despite Ghobrial's history of bizarre behavior, his trial judge wasn't required to hold a mental competency hearing. The court said no evidence was submitted that Ghobrial displayed serious mental impairment at his trial or was incompetent to help the defense.

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