Death Penalty Sought in Yosemite Slayings

M A R I P O S A, Calif., July 16 -- Prosecutors said today they willseek the death penalty against Cary Stayner if he is convicted ofkilling three Yosemite National Park tourists.

Stayner, already serving a life sentence in the killing of apark naturalist, pleaded innocent to three counts of murder and anumber of additional charges in the deaths of the tourists.

Stayner, 39, was arraigned today in Mariposa Superior Court,and prosecutor George Williamson announced he will seek the deathpenalty in the February 1999 killings of Carole Sund, 42, herdaughter Juli, 15, and family friend Silvina Pelosso, 16, ofArgentina.

Stayner was sentenced to life in prison last year afterconfessing to murdering Joie Armstrong, 26, a woman who ledchildren on nature tours in the park. Federal prosecutors droppedtheir bid for execution as part of a plea bargain.

Alleged Confession on Tape

The announcement to seek the death penalty in the slaying of thetourists was anticipated after Mariposa District Attorney ChristineJohnson brought in Williamson, a prosecutor who specializes incapital punishment cases.

Stayner admitted the killings in a six-hour taped interview withFBI agents in July 1999, shortly after Armstrong's headless bodywas found in a creek near her cabin in the park. An excerpt of thetape was played at a preliminary hearing last month in whichStayner described how he preyed on the tourists and methodicallykilled them one by one.

He said he had fantasized of killing for months, and said heturned the dream to reality when he saw "easy prey" through awindow at the Cedar Lodge, where he worked as a handyman justoutside the park.

Trial was set for Feb. 25, 2002.