Samantha's Murderer Faces Death

It is good when the courts work, and yesterday they worked, sentencing Alijandro Avila to the death of Samantha Runyon. The jury foreman, Terry Dancey, captured our collective emotions best:

"That poor little girl sat out there waiting for someone to save her and nobody could save her – not you, not me, not her mother. She thought she would be saved and no one came."

And Samantha's mom, Erin, wished a wish we all hope could come true:

"I would love it for his name never to be mentioned again. I wish there was some magic way for him to be known only as a child predator, the murderer of Samantha Runnion. His name does not deserve that notoriety."

There's a thorough report in today's OCRegister.