Death sentence for Yosemite killer

Cary Stayner confessed to killing the women

A man convicted of killing three women tourists in a famous American nature reserve has been sentenced to death.

Cary Stayner killed Carole Sund, 42, her daughter Juli, 15, and their friend from Argentina Silvina Pelosso, 16, during a visit to the Yosemite National park, in February 1999.

His last plea of not guilty on the grounds of insanity was rejected, and his lawyers' attempts to win a retrial were also overruled.

Mr Stayner is already serving life sentence

A California judge said there was overwhelming evidence against Mr Stayner and that the devastating emotional impact of his actions justified execution.

As the judge read the death sentence - three times for each of the victims - Mr Stayner, 41, bowed his head.

He is already serving a life sentence for the murder of Yosemite naturalist Joie Armstrong, who was attacked and decapitated near her home in the park in July 1999.

Brutal murders

Mt Stayner's trial for triple murder had to be moved to San Jose from the Yosemite area because of the extensive publicity the case has received.

The victims stayed at the Cedar Lodge

His lawyers conceded that he did kill the women but tried to prove that he should not be held responsible for his action because of severe mental illness.

Mr Stayner confessed that he tricked his way into the women's room at the Yosemite's Cedar Lodge convincing them he needed to check faulty plumbing.

He strangled Carole Sund and then sexually assaulted and murdered Silvina Pelosso.

There are people in this world that we don't need and he is one of them

Carole Carrington, victim's grandmother

Then he took Juli Sund to a secluded spot where he slashed her throat.

According to the prosecutors, Mr Stayner told FBI he had a special "kit" of murder supplies that included a knife and a gun.

Relatives' reaction

After the verdict, Juli's grandmother Carole Carrington, said she was relieved that the long running trial had come to an end.

"There are people in this world that we don't need and he is one of them," she said.

The murder of the Yosemite naturalist Joie Armstrong led to Mr Stayner

Mr Stayner's father, Delbert Stayner, accused a "kangaroo court" of depriving his son of a fair trial.

Mr Stayner's elder brother, Steven, was kidnapped by a paedophile and held captive for seven years.

He escaped his captor and later became a subject for a TV movie.

He was killed in a motorcycle crash in 1989.

Terror mystery

After the murder of the three women, people in the Central Valley and foothills leading to the Yosemite were feared for their lives.

Their deaths remained a mystery until Ms Armstrong was murdered a few months later.

The tracks left by the killer eventually led investigators to Mr Stayner, who later confessed to the murders.

The sentence of death by lethal injection will be automatically appealed, and the case is expected to spend many years in higher courts.