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SANTA ANA, Calif. — A judge Friday formally sentenced to death the man who kidnapped and murdered 5-year-old Samantha Runnion in a case that led to the expansion of abduction alerts on electronic billboards along state freeways. ``You're a disgrace to the human race,'' the girl's mother, Erin Runnion, tearily told Alejandro Avila in court. ``... Everything in me wants to hurt you in every possible way.'' A jury convicted the 30-year-old former factory worker in April and voted for the death penalty in May. Judge William R. Froeberg endorsed the recommendation. Avila snatched the kicking and screaming girl as...

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A judge on Friday formally sentenced to death the man who kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered 5-year-old Samantha Runnion (search) in 2002 — a case that led to the expansion of child abduction alerts on electronic billboards along California's freeways. A jury convicted former factory worker Alejandro Avila (search), 30, in April and voted for the death penalty in May. On Friday, Superior Court Judge William R. Froeberg endorsed the jury's recommendation. "You shall suffer the death penalty," the judge told Avila, who looked away.

Samantha Runnion Slay Suspect Convicted By BEN FOXAssociated Press Writer SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -- A jury convicted a factory worker Thursday of the 2002 kidnapping and killing 5-year-old Samantha Runnion, an Orange County girl whose death prompted a massive public outcry.After deliberating for less than nine hours over two days, a jury of eight men and four women convicted Alejandro Avila, 30, of kidnapping, murder and two counts of sexual assault.The same Superior Court jury will decide in a separate penalty phase if Avila should get life in prison without parole or the death penalty.The evidence presented in a...

    Whenever I think of Alejandro Avila, I think of a James Woods quote about capital punishment -- something to the effect of being able to pull the switch and sit down to dinner.   California courtrooms filled the unimaginative media last year, and the year before that, ad nauseum, come to think of it. This year will of course be no exception, with the Michael Jackson, Robert Blake, and Arlen Specter spectacles confirmed for your entertainment pleasure.   But, without hoopla, things are getting readied in Orange County for the trial of Alejandro Avila.     Samantha Runnion ...

<p>Well, I've got many American lawyers angry with me, and that is the subject of this evening's Talking Points memo.</p> <p>Item, Alejandro Avila, the accused killer of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion, was charged with molesting two 9-year-old girls two years ago, went to trial, and was acquitted.</p>

STANTON, Calif., July 22 — A 27-year-old California man was expected to be charged Monday in the kidnapping and slaying of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion. The suspect’s mother told NBC News that she had not asked her son whether he killed the child, but she said she “hopes God forgives him if he’s found guilty.” THE WOMAN, Adelina Avila, said on NBC’s “Today” show that she found it hard to believe that her son, Alejandro, who was arrested Friday but has yet to be charged, could be a kidnapper, rapist and killer. She said he was the kind of person who...

<p>Stanton, Orange County -- The manhunt that would soon snare him was well under way earlier this week when Alejandro Avila talked with his mother, Adelina, about the murder of Samantha Runnion.</p> <p>Whoever sexually assaulted and killed the little girl should hang, the mother told her son.</p>

<p>STANTON, Calif. (AP) --  A 27-year-old man acquitted of molesting two girls two years ago was arrested Friday in connection with the kidnapping and slaying of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion.</p> <p>Alejandro Avila was arrested after search warrants were served at an apartment complex not far from where the girl's body was found Tuesday, Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona said.</p>