Kurbegovic
People v. Kurbegovic
Opinion
Opinion
Younger, J.
Muharem Kurbegovic, the self-proclaimed “Alphabet Bomber,” was convicted of twenty-five felonies, including seven arsons, three murders and eight charges based on injuries resulting from the bombing of Los Angeles International Airport. We affirm the judgment.
I
The Facts
A. The Crimes
As the facts of the crimes are neither in dispute nor important to the issues raised in this appeal, a brief summary of them will suffice.
In the early morning hours of November 9, 1973, three residences were burned by an arsonist. Their owners were Allan G. Campbell, a municipal court judge, and Marguerite Justice and Emmet McGaughey, two members of the Los Angeles Police Commission. It took only 19 minutes to drive from house to house, so it was possible for one person to have set all three fires.
Seven months later, an arson device was placed in the gas tank of Commissioner McGaughey’s car, and he received two strange telephone calls. In the first, the person on the other end made sounds of heavy breathing, without saying anything, but in the second, a male caller said he was from the S.L.A. and that the date for Mr. McGaughey’s execution was set within 30 days.