Supervisors Open Door to Sue Ventura County for Trial Costs
SANTA ANA — The Orange County Board of Supervisors Tuesday gave its attorneys the go-ahead to sue Ventura County for $169,000 in expenses, which they say are owed from the trial of convicted child killer Theodore Frank.
Frank was convicted in late 1979 for the abduction, rape and torture slaying of 2-year-old Amy Sue Seitz. The child was abducted from her aunt’s house in Camarillo in Ventura County.
Frank’s case was moved to Orange County because of extensive pretrial publicity.
Lon Watson, Orange County assistant county counsel, said the supervisors voted unanimously to try to recoup costs from the trial because the statute of limitations was about to expire.
At the time of his arrest in 1978, Frank was a convicted child molester who had been released from Atascadero State Hospital just six weeks earlier.
Frank was sentenced to die at San Quentin for the Amy Sue Seitz murder. But six years later his death sentence was overturned by the state Supreme Court, and a second penalty trial was held. Frank again was sentenced to die and sent back to San Quentin.
Watson said the disputed expenses were incurred since 1985.
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