Judge: Prosecutors can seek death in salon rampage

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Orange County prosecutors can seek the death penalty for a man who admitted killing eight people at a hair salon, but they can’t use evidence improperly gleaned from a jailhouse informant in the case, a judge ruled Monday.

After a months-long hearing on allegations of government misconduct, Judge Thomas M. Goethals found that the district attorney’s office was negligent in failing to quickly discern that the jailhouse snitch had long worked for prosecutors on other cases. But he determined the office did not maliciously intend to violate the rights of 44-year-old killer Scott Dekraai.