LOS ANGELES -- Murder charges were filed against a convicted triple murderer in the shooting 12 years ago of the first female U.S. Secret Service agent killed in the line of duty, District Attorney Ira Reiner announced Thursday.
Andre Alexander, 40, currently is serving a life sentence at Corcoran State Prison in California for the murders of three people in 1978. He was charged with murder with special circumstances for the slaying of Secret Service Agent Julie Cross.
Alexander did not enter a plea at his arraignment late Thursday, and the proceeding was postponed until Oct. 8. Alexander said he would be representing himself.
Three special allegations on top of the murder charge mean he could be sentenced to death if convicted. The special allegations include committing the crime as a convicted murderer, murdering a peace officer and murder during a robbery.
Cross, 26, was gunned down June 4, 1980, as she and her partner, Lloyd Bulman, sat in their unmarked car at an intersection near Los Angeles International Airport.
Cross and Bulman were staking out a house when two men came up to the car. Cross got out of the car with her gun drawn and was somehow disarmed.
'Alexander reached into the agents' car, took their shotgun and fired two blasts at Cross, killing her,' Reiner said at a packed news conference.
Alexander allegedly went to the other side of the car and fired a shotgun blast at Bulman's head. The wounded Bulman feigned death as the two men fled.
Numerous rewards were offered following the slaying, including a billboard advertising a $100,000 reward that was posted on the sixth anniversary of Cross's death.
Reiner would not elaborate on the evidence that led to Alexander's arrest because a second man also is being sought in the agent's death.
'Evidence developed from witnesses led to physical evidence that connected Andre Alexander (to the slaying),' Reiner said.
When detective Richard 'Buck' Henry investigated the 1978 execution murders of three people, he found evidence linking Alexander to Cross's slaying, Reiner said.
Alexander and Terry Lee Brock, 39, were convicted of the execution murders.
Deputy District Attorney Lester Kuriyama, who prosecuted the case, said Alexander was involved in a money-order forgery scheme, and one of the victims was a printer who was not getting paid. When he threatened to go to the police, Alexander and his accomplice killed him and two other people.
Henry, who attended Venice High School in Los Angeles with Alexander, first arrested Alexander in 1972 for a robbery, then for the 1987 triple murder, and finally for Cross's killing, Reiner said.
'It's been a long process. I'm pleased with the filing,' Henry said.
Although murdering a federal agent is a crime that can be prosecuted in federal court, Reiner said authorities decided to file the case in state court.
'In California we do have the death penalty...and we have life without the possibility of parole,' he said.
Since sentencing in the triple murder case was under 1978 rules, Reiner said Alexander will become eligible for parole in a few years.
The British-born Cross joined the Secret Service in 1979 after serving almost three years with the San Diego Police Department. She was the first woman in the Secret Service's history to be killed in the line of duty.
