Gwen Amber Rose Araujo was an American teenager who was murdered in Newark, California, at the age of 17. She was murdered by four men, two of whom she had been sexually intimate with, who beat and strangled her after discovering that she was transgender. Two of the defendants were convicted of second-degree murder, but not the requested hate-crime enhancements to the charges. The other two defendants pleaded guilty or no-contest to voluntary manslaughter. In at least one of the trials, a "trans panic defense"—an extension of the gay panic defense—was employed.
Laci Denise Peterson was an American woman murdered by her husband, Scott Lee Peterson, while eight months pregnant with their first child.
Sante Kimes also known as the Dragon Lady, was an American murderer, con artist, robber, fraudster, serial arsonist and possible serial killer who was convicted on multiple charges, including: two murders, robbery, forgery and slavery. Her decades-long crime spree – including throughout her marriage to her second husband, millionaire Kenneth Kimes Sr., then continuing with theft and fraud against his estate by hiding his death for years – did not end until she was arrested for the murder of Irene Silverman in New York City. Many of these crimes were committed with the assistance of her son, Kenneth Kimes Jr. Both were tried and convicted together on 118 charges, including the murder of Silverman.
Robert George Kardashian was an American attorney and businessman. He gained recognition as O. J. Simpson's friend and defense attorney during Simpson's 1995 murder trial. He had four children with his first wife, Kris Kardashian: Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob, who appear on their family reality television series, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and its spinoffs.
Dorothea Helen Puente was an American convicted serial killer. In the 1980s, she ran a boarding house in Sacramento, California, and murdered various elderly and mentally disabled boarders before cashing their Social Security checks. Puente's total count reached nine murders; she was convicted of three and the jury hung on the other six. Newspapers dubbed Puente the "Death House Landlady".
Joseph Lyle Menendez and Erik Galen Menendez, commonly referred to as the Menendez brothers, are American brothers convicted of killing their parents, José and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez, at their Beverly Hills home in 1989.
Chester Dewayne Turner is an American serial killer and sex offender who was sentenced to death for sexually assaulting and murdering fourteen women and an unborn baby in Los Angeles between 1987 and 1998.
The Wonderland murders, also known as the Four on the Floor Murders or the Laurel Canyon Murders, are four unsolved murders that occurred in Los Angeles on July 1, 1981. It is assumed that five people were targeted to be killed in the known drug house of the Wonderland Gang, three of whom—Ron Launius, William "Billy" Deverell, and Joy Miller—were present. Launius, Deverell, and Miller, along with the girlfriend of an accomplice, Barbara Richardson, died from extensive blunt-force trauma injuries. Only Launius' wife Susan survived the attack, allegedly masterminded by organized crime figure and nightclub owner Eddie Nash. Nash, his henchman Gregory Diles, and porn actor John Holmes were at various times arrested, tried, and acquitted for their involvement in the murders.
Earl Rogers was an American trial lawyer and professor. Rogers became the inspiration for Erle Stanley Gardner's fictional character Perry Mason. He was also posthumously inducted into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame.
Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) is an American women's California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison located in Chowchilla, California. It is across the road from Valley State Prison. CCWF is the second largest female correctional facility in the United States, and houses the only State of California death row for women.
Elisabeth Anne Broderick is an American woman who murdered her ex-husband, Daniel T. Broderick III, on November 5, 1989. Betty Broderick committed the murder as an act of revenge after Daniel left her and divorced her. At a second trial that began on December 11, 1991, she was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder and later sentenced to 32-years-to-life in prison. The case received extensive media attention. Several books were written on the Broderick case, and a TV movie was televised in two parts. In 2020, an 8-episode miniseries was produced and aired about Broderick.
The Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center is the county criminal courthouse in the Civic Center neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is located at 210 West Temple Street, between Broadway and Spring Street occupying the former site of the historic Red Sandstone Courthouse from 1891–1936, and prior to that, Los Angeles High School (1873–82), on the former Pound Cake Hill, now flattened.
Anand Jon Alexander, better known as Anand Jon, is an Indian-born American celebrity fashion designer who was convicted of sex crimes.
Deadly Women is an American true crime documentary television series produced by Beyond International Group and airing on the Investigation Discovery (ID) network.
Robert John Peernock was an American convicted for the murder of his wife, Claire Laurence Peernock, and for the attempted murder of his daughter, Natasha Peernock, on July 22, 1987. Peernock was a former pyrotechnics engineer and employee of the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) who claimed he was framed because he was about to publish a book exposing state corruption. He died in prison in December 2021.
Lawrence Fobes King, also known as Latisha King, was a 15-year-old student at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, California, who was shot twice by a fellow student, 14-year-old Brandon McInerney, and kept on life support for two days afterwards.
Justice for Annie: A Moment of Truth Movie is a 1996 American-Canadian made-for-television drama film directed by Noel Nosseck. The film, based on actual events, is a part of the Moment of Truth franchise and was also made as Death Benefit (1996). Filming took place in Toronto.
Stuart Anthony Tay, was an American teenager from Orange County, California and a student at Foothill High School. Five teenagers believed that Tay was planning to betray them in a planned theft of computer equipment, so they arranged to kill him. All of the perpetrators were students at Sunny Hills High School. Most of the perpetrators had planned to attend elite colleges and universities, including Ivy League schools.
Angelina Rodriguez is an American woman from Montebello, California who was convicted of the September 2000 murder of Jose Francisco "Frank" Rodriguez, her fourth husband. She also was accused of killing her infant daughter in 1993 by suffocating her with a pacifier. Rodriguez is incarcerated at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, California.
