November 21st, 2009, 2:00 am by Larry Welborn
1979: Rodney James Alcala has been in custody since July1979, when he was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and murdering Robin Samsoe, a 12-year-old Huntington Beach girl.
The blond ballet student was abducted as she was riding her bicycle home on June 20, 1979. 
Alcala, who once appeared on the television show “The Dating Game,” became a suspect after he was allegedly identified as the man who wanted to take photos of Samsoe and a friend earlier on the day she disappeared.
A child-killing case is notorious enough, but what elevates this case to greater notoriety is its torturous journey through the justice system.
Twice, Alcala was convicted and sentenced to death, and twice his convictions were reversed on appeal.
Before he could be tried a third time, science caught up with him: DNA linked him to the murders of four women in Los Angeles County in the late 1970s, and he is suspected of two other murders of women in New York.
His third trial – now on five murder charges – should get under way soon. Alcala, now 66, recently won court permission to serve as his own lawyer. He has pleaded not guilty by reason if insanity to the four Los Angeles cases, and is adamant that he did not kill Robin Samsoe.
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November 20th, 2009, 2:00 am by Larry Welborn
1979: Dr. William Waddill, a prominent Huntington Harbour obstetrician, was charged with strangling a fetus delivered after an unsuccessful abortion on an 18-year-old high school student.
The frightened young woman had to push her way through throngs of protesters and glaring camera lights outside the Santa Ana courthouse to testify against Waddill in two headline-making trials that focused public attention on the abortion debate raging across the country.
Prominent celebrity lawyer Charles Weedman, who once defended singer Claudine Longet in the shooting death of her lover, skier Spider Sabich, arrived at the courthouse on many days in a limousine.
Prosecutor Robert Chatterton quoted poet Dylan Thomas in his final argument. It was high drama. Twice, Waddill was tried on murder charges.
Twice, the jury deadlocked. Orange County Judge Byron K. McMillan ultimately dismissed the case against Waddill in 1979 after the second hung jury.
Pictured: Dr. William Waddill, Register File Photo
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November 19th, 2009, 2:00 am by Larry Welborn
1977: You can’t make this stuff up. Ex-communicated followers of the Hare Krishna religious sect involved in a growing, lucrative drug-smuggling enterprise specializing in “China White” heroin hired three thugs who were federally relocated witnesses who ratted out the Mafia to protect them.
It all lead to murder when the mobsters “whacked” a cocaine dealer who had kidnapped the kingpin of the drug smugglers. Alexander Kulik, one of the founders of Laguna Beach drug cult The Brotherhood of Eternal Love was the central figure in this bizarre saga.
When he was kidnapped for ransom in 1977, it led to the murder of Fountain Valley drug dealer and kidnapper Stephen John Bovan, who was gunned down outside the El Ranchito restaurant in Newport Beach on Oct. 22, 1977.
Three men with ties to the Mafia were convicted of second-degree murder in 1978 for their roles in the gangland-style shooting.
Kulik was arrested on the day Bovan was killed when a deputy sheriff spotted him sleeping in a rare and expensive Stutz Blackhawk automobile in Mission Viejo.
He had a pound of “China White” in three mayonnaise jars in the back seat.
Kulik served the heroin and conspiracy sentences concurrently.
The three so-called hit men served their prison sentences and have been paroled.
Pictured: Alexander Kulik, Register File Photo
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November 18th, 2009, 2:00 am by Larry Welborn
1977-79: Orange County Supervisor Ralph Diedrich (known as “Super D” for his larger-than-life persona as chairman of the Board of Supervisors) was indicted, tried and convicted of bribery and sentenced to jail for three years.
His jury deliberated for six days before finding that he accepted bribes from an Anaheim Hills development company in 1973, ’74 and ’75.
The verdicts were overturned by an appellate court, but later two felony counts were reinstated by the California Supreme Court.
After exhausting all appeals, Diedrich began serving his prison term in 1982.
He was paroled after a few years. Diedrich was one of three supervisors convicted of public corruption charges in the 1970s.
The prosecutor was future DA Mike Capizzi.
Pictured: Ralph Diedrich, Register File Photo
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November 17th, 2009, 2:00 am by Larry Welborn
1976-78: Dr. Louis Cella Jr. was an Orange County multimillionaire, a philanthropist, a political kingmaker and, eventually, a convict.
He was charged and convicted in federal court of tax evasion, Medicare fraud and conspiracy, and grand theft and Medi-Cal fraud in state court.
It was said that at one time he was instrumental is electing four of the five supervisors in Orange County, plus several other Democrats in state offices.
While the cases against him were initiated in Orange County, most were resolved in other counties because of changes of venue.
The prosecutor was future DA Mike Capizzi.
Pictured: Dr. Louis Cella in his Santa Ana office during the 1970’s. File Photo: Ygnacio Nanetti, The Orange County Register
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