Richard Delmer Boyer


Richard Delmer Boyer is an American man convicted of murdering an elderly couple.

Background

Boyer, from La Mirada, California, was working as a handyman at the time of the crime.

Crime and arrest

On December 7, 1982 Boyer stabbed to death an elderly couple in Fullerton, California; he stabbed the husband 24 times and the wife 19 times. He was arrested following a tip-off from the victim's son. Boyer was not given access to a lawyer during his arrest. He was about to be released by the police when he admitted the crime.

Trial

During the trial Boyer was revealed to be a drug addict, and he had consumed both alcohol and drugs on the day of the murder. He stated that he had driven to the victim's house to borrow money. At the property he stated he started "freaking out" and could not remember committing the crime. The first trial ended in a hung jury. In the second trial, in 1984, a defense psychopharmacologist testified that Boyer had suffered a drug-induced flashback to a horror film, Halloween II, which features a scene with an elderly couple. The film was shown to the jury, the first time in US legal history that a commercial motion picture had been submitted as evidence at a murder trial. The jury found him guilty, and the judge sentenced Boyer to death.
The California Supreme Court ordered a re-trial in 1989, stating that Boyer had been denied his Miranda rights.
In 1991 he was linked to another murder, committed in 1980, but the District Attorney stated they would not pursue in case it distracted from the forthcoming re-trial.
In 1992 Boyer was re-tried, and was again found guilty and sentenced to death.