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Today in True Crime History: October 4
1976 — The Supreme Court reverses its 1972 ban on the death penalty.
2008 — Luis Santos is fatally stabbed near the campus of San Diego State University. Esteban Núñez was one of the men convicted in the murder, and he was sentenced to 16 years in prison. His father was a California Assembly Speaker of the House, was friends with then governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as well as Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Political influence led to Schwarzenegger commuting the murderer’s sentence to seven years without informing the family of the victim.
2009 — The Mount Vernon Murder takes place. A woman and her daughter are attacked with a machete. Two people are sentenced to life in prison, and three accomplices also received prison sentences.
