Death Sentence Decreed for Man Who Killed 7 at Defense Firm
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SAN JOSE — A man who said he would “smile for the cameras” if he went to the gas chamber did not flinch when a judge on Friday sentenced him to death for killing seven people in a rage blamed on unrequited love.
But Richard Farley apologized in court for the slayings, which the judge described as “the equivalent of a holocaust.”
“I do feel sorry for the victims,” Farley said unemotionally after explaining that he “wasn’t the type” to show outward remorse. “I could say I’m sorry but they’re going to look at me and laugh at me and say I’m not.”
Farley was convicted in October of the 1988 slayings at ESL Inc., a Sunnyvale defense contractor. A jury recommended the death penalty. Prosecutors said Farley, a computer engineer, committed the killings to get the attention of a former co-worker who rejected his romantic advances.
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